Enemies from the start lovers until the end
by Kyoka-BOO
Summary: AU Kurama's lived a traumitized life and is not always one to trust people. Hiei, a high school dropout passing through, is no different. But when Hiei begins to fall for Kurama, problems arise. Can he earn the fox's trust, much less, his love? HxK
1. Chapter 1

_**Enemies from the start, lovers 'til the end**_

Well, okay, so I start off yet another chaptered fic. First of all, I should proceed with the warnings, disclaimer, ect. I will not say it again this chapter, so if you do not enjoy such things, do not read, please. Standard disclaimer as one usually would state. I do not own the rights to Yuu Yuu Hakusho, or good old Togashi-san's characters. I do not own the computer I used to write the story ect. So there, no copyright infringement, no I can't get in trouble with the law.

Counter personality: Really! I'd love to get in trouble wit the law. Let us follow through with this 'copyright infringement' that you speak of!

Me: sweatdrop Meet my counter personality, Warui don't ask me where she came from.

Warning: Shonen ai content, you no likey, you no ready. I am not forcing you to read the so if you have any doubts, press the back button now. Paring: HieixKurama

Note: Hiei and Kurama won't be demons in this story, because I don't know, I feel like doing one where they're both human. On a side note, I know there are those people who do not enjoy reviewing; but it makes me really, REALLY happy to know that someone's reading my story. Promise that you'll tell me the truth if you absolutely hate it, okay? Well, no that that's all said and done, ON WITH THE FIC!

_**Chapter One: A new character in town**_

Rain hammered down on a small town, slightly west of a large chain of mountains, creating a dark and dismal scene. Not to mention the fact that the town was completely desolate. Two contributing factors gave simple reason, one, it was raining, and two, a large clock tower ticking near the hear of this town read a late time, 12:21

Throughout the shadows of the alley, a shadow could be seen, darting back and forth in hopes of finding shelter where the rain wouldn't be so bad. A large crack of thunder sounded and the shadowlike creature cursed in several different languages, angry, as the sky seemed to pour harder, just to anger him. What was unmistakable about this man, possibly was it his black cloak, or was it the sense of impending doom one would feel when near such a menacing figure. Either way, he could certainly be described as an 'Untrustable character.' His appearance proved it. Crimson eyes were fixed in an endless glare, easily complementing the angry scowl worn on his face. His black, soaking cloak dripped waster as he found shelter under part of a houses roof, he attempted to shake the water off, to no prevail, of course. In light of this frustration, he growled loudly and angrily, something that seemed unsuited for even a human, even one such as him...

...But who ever said this person was human, he certainly didn't look like it with that appearance?

Who was this person's name you ask? Hiei.

Such a question only brought more mystery to the figure, who was meanwhile glaring at a wooden sign the said 'Welcome to the town of Kirei no yama'. The guy growled again, softer this time, and began to look for a place to sleep for the night. Hiei boots clicked in the deserted street, rippling puddles and scattering small droplets of water. Dear god, how he hated this god-forsaken rain. Brushing some rain out of his eyes and bangs from his field of view, he spotted a grove of particularly welcoming trees. He sat down under a large oak tree, seeming to settle a little despite the dangerous looking sky. At least it was dry under here, plus, the tree was big enough to shield the now pouring rain. Slowly, he closed his eyes, finding sleep almost instantly.

Meanwhile, in another house across town, a tall and thin creature lay nestled under the covers of his bed. Now, this person could be described as normal when you looked at his appearance. Beautiful, long red hair flowed out peacefully onto the bed, and although was kind of pale and a little too thin, he seemed to be just the sort of person who you could trust. It seems almost coincidental that he had sort of the aura along with such a beautiful, elegant exterior. At the time though, he seemed no calmer that someone who was being subjected to their worst fear. He tossed and turned in his sleep, a fitful act for such a peacefully appearing boy. Every now and then, he would moan in the middle of a tossing fit, mumbling practically indefinable words. However, every once in a while, you could make out such words as "No..",

"Don't...", or

"Please." It makes you wonder, what type of nightmare was he having, doesn't it?

_The redhead stared into darkness as he awoke, shivering at a sudden wave of cold air that had washed over him. Where was he anyways, this place was so familiar... yet he couldn't place his finger on it at the time. He heard a sly voice behind him, "Oh, so I see the cutie's awake now... How have you been, Kurama?" He snapped his head towards where the voice was coming from when he heard his name spoken, being restricted by chains that restricted his movements severely. As if on cue, the dark figure chuckled, watching the redhead struggle against the chains with all of his might. After a minute or two, Kurama stopped to think it out, after all his incredible intelligence had proven before to be very useful in sticky situations. This only made his captor laugh in deeper amusement, "There's no way out of this ,Kurama, why don't you give up before you waste all your energy on the useless task. Kurama stopped struggling, rather, he averted his gaze, trying to focus on figuring out how exactly he'd gotten there and where he was._

_A soft clink of footsteps echoed across the room's walls of the shadowy figure approached his and placed a hand under his chin, lifting his gaze so Kurama's eyes were level with his. Emerald eyes widened, but Kurama refused to show any more fear than that of which he'd already shown. A hand came into Kurama's cheek, Kurama had to practically restrain himself back from whimpering as the other person began to stroke his cheek. Kurama averted his emerald gaze and made movements to escape, only to once again be restrained by the metal chains. "So beautiful...". He whispered in the red hair, stroking it a few times. Kurama let out an audible whimper; he couldn't stand being touched by him. _

_"And that's why you need to die!" He hit Kurama hard across the head, sending him down to the stone floor. Kurama felt his chains bring unlocked from around his limbs and an arm hoist him up. He met evil-looking violet eyes and he felt something sharp cut across a good portion of his body, scattering blood and knocking him against the wall. He felt a sharp pain arise throughout his body, only to realize he had blood running down his entire left side in a log and deep wound running all the way from a few inches away from his left eye, down his pale cheek, all the way to mid thigh. Kurama winced and recoiled from the hit. It wasn't like he would be able to fight back well towards this person, he only had basic training in self defense. He felt himself being pinned against a wall. Kurama whimpered again, if he had a choice between pain and this, he'd certainly take first. Kurama practically cried out when he felt a tongue pass across his skin, quite near to one of his ears. Kurama struggled to regain his composure, succeeding in doing do he asked what had been on his mind for a long time. "I must ask, who are you and why did you bring me here?" The man chuckled again and kissed the corner of his lips._

_"I introduce myself as Karsu" he said " And I have brought you here to kill you." Kurama opened his mouth to ask another question, which was immediately answered by Karsu._

_"I always say, you need to kill the ones you love, it's a fascination I should say, seeing someone like that squirm in fear from you intimacy and torture." This guy was just plain physco, Kurama couldn't find an explanation any more simple that that. With snap of his fingers, invisible bombs appeared around Kurama. Kurama felt one explode on his side, then countless more after that. He screamed in pain and fell to the ground, feeling a pool of blood form around him only a few minutes after he fell. Karsu was extremely amused and walked over to Kurama who was lying in the ground, unable to move much. He quivered as he felt Karsu lift his chin up, this time to kiss him directly on the lips. The redhead's eyes widened in immediate fear, Karsu merely climbed on top of Kurama and began running his fingers through the long red hair. Inside, Kurama had practically exploded, screaming no, and no again internally. Nothing seemed to come out though, Kurma couldn't do anything except lay there in complete shock, unable to say or do anything because he was pinned down by Karsu. _

_"I'll show you true pleasure before you die..." he whispered against his lips, beginning to remove his shirt._

Emerald eyes snapped open and Kurama shot out of bed breathing hard. He heard a large boom, followed by the flash of lightening, it lit up his room for a minute and then faded, a silence returning accompanied only by a comforting sound; Kurama's favorite sound, rain. It took him a minute to realize that this time he was on he floor, not to mention h had a throbbing pain in he side of his head from when he had fallen out of his bed, most likely hitting the nightstand on the way. Gosh, these dreams were really getting to him now. This dream had been repeating a few times a week for two months now, the same one every time. But, as it seemed, they'd been affecting him worse than usual that was saying something.

Kurama blinked as his eyes adjusted to almost unnatural darkness, glancing to the digital clock on his bedside table. He sighed, 2:00 on the dot, he'd never be able to sleep now, no matter how hard he tried. You wouldn't be surprised that this intelligent young man was extremely sleep deprived. He yawned and stretched, pulling on a pair of black jeans and a dark greed button up shirt. Before buttoning up his shirt he look a chance to look over his right arm. As it had always been, a long, twinning from his wrist to his shoulder. With one glance at in, anyone could tell that his arm had been badly injured in the past. He sighed softly and pulled on his shirt fully, buttoning each button carefully. Of course, it came as no surprise to see such a scar on his arm, meaning, he'd had it for nearly three years now. He knew it was foolish to hope that one day, when he woke up, he'd find to his surprise that it was gone. Yes, but still, it didn't keep him from wishing, wishing that this was all a bad dream and that when he woke up, he'd finally realize that.

Rain greeted him as he opened the door to the porch of his small cottage, thundering and spilling down around the sides of the porch roof. There was nothing that fascinated him more than watching the rainfall. It was so beautiful, yet it could be so destructive, and yet, sad and gentle at the same time. How could that be? He chuckled at his thoughts and looked up to the oppressive sky, which in turn, seemed to try intimidating him with a few more steaks of lighting and particularly loud thunder.

He just smiled u at it, unafraid.

Again, Kurama questioned himself about such things. Why did nothing seem to scare him, not storms, heights, monsters, death, loneliness, heartbreak or pain brought any fear to the redheads heart; wasn't that what most people feared? Most normal people, that is. What did Kurama fear, you ask? Wasn't anything slightly frightening to him? Yes, indeed, what the redhead feared most, was other people. When Kurama thought about it, he scolded himself for fearing such a pathetic thing. Yet, why shouldn't he? People were liars and traitors, he was a person too, which gave him right to nearly fear his very being. He pondered for a moment, wondering why he didn't hate himself. It wasn't like he was and angel or another creature, free from such charges. Perhaps it was because it's almost physically impossible to fear yourself. He confirmed to himself that fact before getting his mind off the subject.

Meanwhile, Hiei was awoken to hammering rain. He gave a trademark "Hn before shaking a few drops of water off of him that had found their way onto his clothes while he was sleeping. It was still raining, how he hated that damn rain! It was a thought that went had been going through his head since the rain first began. He groaned when he realized that he'd only been sleeping for a little while. The 'never-tiring' person, for once in his life felt drowsy and groggy.

This didn't stop him; he threw back on his black cloak and continued to walk. Not too long after, a question came into his mind. How long should he stay here? As this boy traveled often, he rarely stopped, and when he did, it was often for only short bouts of time. He took out a wallet, counting his money carefully. Well, he still did have almost a thousand dollars, getting a small meal here wouldn't hurt he supposed, deciding that the rest of the money would be reserved for a dire situation. He remembered back to when he'd actually been saving up this money, for a car, to be specific. But who cared, he no longer needed such things. Those life savings were crucial to his survival, once in a while used to buy medicine or new clothes, and could hardly be wasted on such foolish things. Hiei thought of going down to the river to catch a fish to eat, possibly rabbit or a small animal like that. This thought made him shiver. He was so sick of that food; a nice meal would be wonderful now.

Across town, Kurama stepped off his porch, letting himself be soaked by the cool downpour and breathing in the scent of wet, fresh air joyfully. He walked along the side of a street that led to the main part of town. Now seemed like a good time to walk; no people were out, that was for sure, and he hadn't taken a good, long walk in the rain for such a long time. He was brought to his senses when he ran into someone, being knocked clear off his feet and onto the ground, hitting the sore spot on his head that had just stopped throbbing a few minutes ago. Kurama leapt up, almost jumping out of his skin and backed away fearfully. An angry looking figure glare back at him, as if the redhead had committed such a crime, that he would like to kill him. "Watch where you're going, baka!" the back clad boy growled harshly back. Kurama backed away, still scared into thinking that all strangers were dangerous, cruel. "Gomen nasai" he repeated over and over again, masking the fear in his voice for the time being. The boy nearly sneered and walked past Kurama, not bidding him any type of reply nor even a farewell.

Kurama trembled and stood after the boy left, cursing himself for not watching where he walked. To his luck, he had fallen in a puddle, really soaking himself. Rain rolled off his already sopping shirt, giving him cause to shiver. With a sudden realization of how cold it had grown, he walked back to his house, taking shelter under the porch for barely a minute before he headed into his house. Water dripped off his clothes onto the floor as he headed to the bathroom to change outfits. Inside, he was careful to shut and safely lock the door before stripping quickly down, drying off then redressing in his new set of clothes. That was much better, already, he felt warmer than he had a minute ago. He coughed deeply after this though, followed by a loud sneeze and a couple of shivers. Just what he needed, a cold now. He'd have to write done some cold medication on his shopping list. Good thing he was going to the store tomorrow.

Hiei growled as he walked through the street still. Who the hell had that been out at this time of night? Several questions swarmed through his head. He was reminded that NORMAL people were supposed be asleep now. Who knew, maybe she out such a time of night? He rolled his eyes at that, had she been a girl or a boy? The figure surely looked to be a girl, long flaming crimson hair, large jade eyes. But then again, such a voice was slightly low high pitched a boy. Even thought it could have passed as a boy's voice, it could still be mistaken as girly, a sort of soft alto. And even more, as Hiei hated to admit it, that person, hopefully a women, had been very, very, pretty.

Okay, that's where I end it for now. Please read my few notes for now. I will try to get this updated soon as possible, but if at some point in the story, my updates begin to lapse, never give up. I WILL update my story. A slow update either means the real world calls, or I have a rather bad bout of the dreaded writer's block. I have never, nor will ever give up on a story people are expecting from me. On the reviewing note, I really appreciate your opinion. Ever heard that writers live for reviews. I am not putting my story up to be ignored, and I will be upset if you do not review. points to reader As it goes for flames, yes, I am a Yu Yu Hakusho obsessor, I know Hiei's supposed to go with Mukuro and Kurama, supposedly, with Maya. I am also aware of what Togashi-san said in that official interveiw, for I, Kyoka Ikeda, am a Yuu Yuu Hakusho obsessor, and there is practically nothing I know about anything pertaining to Yuu Yuu Hakusho. I like to write this way, as you flamers like to write the way you do. Flames and/or lectures, or ANYONE telling me to go to hell along with a kind reviewer, will not be appreciated. I am not simply going to obey such orders as 'going to hell' or stopping writing the way I do simply because someone doesn't like Heidi and Kumara together. I **_am_** a person, and I **_do_** have feelings.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Enemies from the start, lovers until the end**_

First, to all you kind reviewer people:

Me: . Internet, can't upload. So frustrating must... not... kill the computer. Ah, what the hell! smashes computer with a large, megaton hammer. Muhahaha! It's dead!

Computer: explodes and bursts into flames

Me: Uh-oh, I didn't do anything rushes out of bedroom and leaves computer to burn grabs Kurama plushie on the way

**Seablue**

Wow, you're a lot like me. It's kinda funny, before I read your review, I was considering adding some KuramaxBotan in there; possibly HieixBotan.I love those pairing to death, as I do KuramaxHiei, YuusukexKurama, HieixKurama, BotanxKurama HieixBotan ect. Hiei and Kurama are such pairable people? Aren't they? I love oc too, but I'm always concerned that I'm going to make a mary-sue, which I despise to death and hate with a fiery passion. Plus, I already think I did that in my last fanfic with an oc in it. I am so glad that you'll be waiting for me to update, and I really appreciate your kind review. Arigatou gozaimasu!

**kikira-san**

Yay! I'm dedicated. And thanks for the compliment, all you reviewers are all so kind! Don't all yaoi writers hate flames, lol. I could gripe all day, but I'll save it for my own journal where other people don't have to see it, lol. Thanks again.

**BlackRoseVixen05**

Yayers! Another complement, I'm so happy that so many people are reviewing. I've never had near this many reviews in the first week before, so I can't thank you enough.

**lunarprincessyunaleska**

Thank yous for the compliment. I see that you're new, and I know how you feel. Hey, everyone's new at one point, and EVERY user here can relate to each other in one way, for me, it is definitely the feeling of being new. It took me a year to get the courage to post on here and I didn't know what to do or say in reviews. I'm really hoping to see one of your stories, so I'll keep an eye out. As for the spelling mistake, Karasu, I can't believe I typed it. I am an absolute, name spelling wrong hater. That's my mistake though, I still can't believe I did that.

**Lol **

wow, what a coincidence! I like the Hiei/Kurama pairing too! Lol, thanks a lot for reviewing, and if you get the time, please review again!

**Lady Rainrin**

Wow! So many nice reviewers! It must be my lucky day! Anyways, I really appreciate your compliments. it's so motivating, and it really makes my day. So, thanks!

**Kuranga108**

Wow! My stories interesting too! Yayers! I liked putting switching in between Kurama and Hiei's actions at the time, it was a lot of fun in a way. So, I'm glad you liked that part. What I'm hoping that I'm doing, is keeping them pretty much in character, I really try to scrutinize the character's details and actions before I put it up. Ooc is fun at times, but not in large doses, lets just say. I enjoyed writing the dream sequence too. Indeed, writing is a very fun task for me. At first, I was just going to make it some random freak. But then, I was thinking about Karsu as well, and I thought it would be cool to incorporate him. You'll find out more about that in this chapter, I am glad that it's unique, because that way the view I was aiming for, 'Unique and different' I'm glad you liked it either ways and thanks for reviewing, as goes for all my other reviewers. Kurama's fear of other people... hmmm tries to think what it's called, fails Oh well. Do you know there's such a thing as Japanaphobia? I'm sure you can guess what that is. There's things like derntraphobia, acrophobia or hypsaphobia, arachnidphobia, aquaphobia, and stuff like that. There's also other stuff I don't remember the names of like fear of death, of blood, of flowers, ect. Well, I'm babbling, let's get back on subject.

Read on with the fanfic, yeas you will! Enjoy!

Warning all you yaoi hater people, there will be yaoi, HieixKurama. As I said in my previous chapter, you aren't obligated to read this, and should only read if you don't mind that they're paired together. Torture and the possibility of rape or either implied rape comes in later chapters. This is not going to be a happy fic all you happy campers(Until the end) So all you happy campers go back to happy camp along with the yaoi haters.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Disclaimer: Me own no part of Yuu Yuu Hakusho, nothing. All rights reserved for Yuu Yuu Hakusho's creator; Togashi-san, funimation, studio pierott, ect. Ooo, but I was thinking of stealing the rights, so anyone intrested in it, e-mail me at just joking, mind you, I don't want people e-mailing me and telling me they will) If anyone really wants to e-mail me there with a question or comment, or suggestion, do it at this address. But be it known. I have it set to reject attachments and embedded images, so only write, no pictures or filey things.

_**Chapter 2: A misson for Hiei: An enemy revistied**_

Hiei shook the rain off as he walked through the streets. People bustled to and fro in the streets, stopping to glance at Hiei before shivering slightly at the bully-like expression that easily implied 'Stay out of my way, and I won't hurt you', before hurrying off in the opposite direction, extremely flustered. Hiei glowered at the unwanted attention, running into some people and hning as he stormed towards a local restaurant, named 'Yama wa sora-de' Before he entered he noticed a pale and quiet Kurama staring fearfully over from his spot across the street. When Hiei spotted the redhead, he glared with the utmost hatred, causing much intimidation on Kurama's behalf. Hiei was not often one to take well to someone if they'd made a bad first impression, Kurama had fallen into that sort of category. Hiei gave Kurama a death glare, before storming into the restaurant and slamming the door shut behind him. Kurama tried to keep his composure successfully, but he still felt as if Hiei was able to sense his fears, sort of in the way people said that dogs could smell fear. That was ludicrous, though, an idiosyncrasy. After brushing the thought from his mind, he continued to walk.

Kurama had proceeded to the bank. His thoughts lingered back on those cold crimson eyes that instilled extreme fear into those who had glance into their depths. He sighed and proceeded to the back, walking with a brisk and quiet pace to the ATM machine. After hi parents died those many years ago, he'd inherited an old ATM card that had once belonged to his parents, they'd had a lot of money in their account, and he was using it until he could get a good job around town. He was promised a good spot at the working at a veterinarian's office when he turned eighteen in three years. Withdrawing the money he needed for today's shopping, he walked in the direction of the town market, careful to watch where he walked. When reached the market, he grabbed what he needed. Normal stuff such as a pack of rice, shampoo and soap, instant ramen, ingredients to make beef teriyaki, fired rice, and such/((an: Mmmm, beef teriyaki, fried rice and mushrooms yum! dodges rock Okay! I'll shut up!)) and a little bit of fish to cook. He did remember to grab cold medicine before he left, sneezing successfully a few times before he left the store.

The shadowy figure sat in the restaurant, glaring down at the table in front of him, thinking the past few days out in his head. All of this annoyed the fire demon to a large extent. All the people here were annoying and it would NOT. STOP. RAINING. A cheerful waitress appeared beside the table and smiled, giving a cheerful greeting before asking how she could be of service. Hiei glared, gave a hn, when he ordered soup. He went back to glaring at the table. "I'll be right with you!" the waitress replied cheerfully. How Hiei hated that tone, it made him want to wretch, this town wasn't leaving a nice impression, everyone was slowly being added to Hiei's ever so long 'hate list'. He ate his soup slowly, without much interest.

A door opened as Kurama entered the restaurant. He mind as well get some lunch while he was there, it took him long enough to walk back home anyways. He sat down in a corner as far away from people as he could get, replying quickly when the waiter asked what he'd like. Tentatively, he took in his surroundings. Nobody was really there, except for one person. As soon as he saw who the person was, he felt his hart race in fear. Crimson eyes were set in a never-ending glare at the table, it seemed as if he wasn't focusing on anything else. Kurama trembled, and fearfully moved a little farther back in his seat, trying to get even farther away from Hiei that he'd already been before. At the same time, Kurama forced himself to mask his fears, afraid it would be taken advantage of if anyone found out. So, he retained a natural expression on his pale, delicate face. Then, he turned his attention away from him, sipping from the teacup he held silently.

Hiei growled and set two thousand yen on the table, storming out of the restaurant. For sure, this guy seemed a lot more temperamental than a normal person was. And what if this was how he was on a bad day. Then the thought of him on a bad day would make even the bravest, most strong and athletic person, would cower in fear from this boy's rage. He did however, take the chance to glare at Kurama, who didn't seem to notice, the redhead had gone into what looked to be a trance-like state, almost coma-like. He was slightly annoyed by this and walked out of the restaurant without doing anything else. When he walked outside, he was greeted by rain, and wondered silently to himself if it ever stopped raining. the fire youkai was just about to find shelter in an alley, before a voice interrupted the silence. "Jaganshi, Hiei, is it not?" Red eyes narrowed in anyone and he yelled into the abyss

"And why the hell is it your business?" A blue haired figure materialized from nowhere. Hiei pointed a finger, "You're that girl from the restaurant!" Although she seemed to notice Hiei's annoyance quite distinctly, she smiled and bowed, showing no fear whatsoever to Hiei. This annoyed Hiei even more. She giggled lightly before continuing. "My name is Botan! It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"That doesn't answer my question. Tell me or I'll be forced to slit you throat!" She shuddered and pushed her two index fingers together, fumbling wit her words

"Okay, Mister grumpy. I have come with a job for you. I want you to make friend with that red haired boy you met earlier, Kurama. He's oh so very lonely" So that she did happen to be a he, not that it mattered to Hiei.

"So? Who are you to boss me around? If you really want this Kurama to have friend, you should."

"I'm quite busy although It would be lovely to be his friend. But I have a proposal to make, let's say you give it a shot, you be friends with Kurama, I'll offer you your own house with meals free of charge."

"Hn. And why is it that you don't have the time to do it yourself?"

"I have to go back to the spirit world."

"Well, then. No." the youkai tuned and walked away from the ferry girl, unmotivated even with her proposal,

"Sooner of later, you're going to be great friends, I know it!" she replied happily, jumping on a paddle she had conjured and vanished into the skyline. Hiei scoffed at this and kicked a trash can. Still annoyed, Hiei decided to go confront this Kurama on why he needed friends so badly.

Meanwhile, Kurama sighed and put his key into the lock, turning it and letting himself into the house. Kurama took a looked at himself in the mirror as he brushed the crimson mane that had become messy while walking through the rainstorm. An extremely pale figure frowned back at him. Had he really gone out looking like that? Due to this cold, he was deathly pale, emerald eyes slightly dull. His cheeks were also tinted red from a slight fever he probably hadn't noticed. Well, so it wasn't new Sighing, he turned to look at the directions on the back of the medicine box, paining his already sore throat by coughing hoarsely a few times. 'This should help' he thought as he swallowed a small blue pill. The medicine, having the possible side affect of drowsiness left Kurama sleeping peacefully on the couch, unbeknownst to him, Hiei's presence was fast approaching.

Hiei ran to where he sensed Kurama's presence. He was led to a more remote side of town with small cottage-like housed scattered a good distance apart form one another. He walked on the porch, knocking loud on the door. No answer. This annoyed Hiei. The guy was obviously him; his aura was practically radiating off the house. At the end of his rope, Hiei turned the door knob and kicked the door open. This surprised him, he'd expected the door to be locked. Completely ignoring the fact that it wasn't his house, he strolled right in as if it were; closing the door and removing his boots as he entered. Hey, he still did have a slight shard of respect among that cold heart.

It was quite a small little cottage, from what Hiei could tell; there was only one bedroom, a kitchen with room enough for an oven, small table and fridge, and a little bit more roomy, but still cozy living room. There he found Kurama, fast asleep on the couch. Although Hiei was softened by the delicate and almost angelic(But of course, Hiei wouldn't admit to that) look of the sleeping figure, he still drew his sword from his sheath, ready to wake the boy and confront him. The redhead was awoken by the noise of Hiei drawing his sword, being the type of person who stirred with the smallest of noises unless it was in the middle of the night. Confused emerald eyes stared into the other's crimson eyes, not understanding. At first, he stared and blinked drowsily, not comprehending what this meant in his state of fatigue. When he caught the gleam of Hiei's katana, he forgot all about masking his fears, shooting straight off the couch and into a dark corner in the room accompanied by a silent cry of fear. The glint of the katana brought back several unpleasant waves of memories, accompanied by a growing feeling of nausea.

Hiei merely looked confused, stepping towards the kitsune while clutching his weapon. Kurama turned away, visible shudders and shivers traveling throughout his body. This only confused Hiei more. What was he so scared of? It hit him, he sheathed his sword and said in the kindest voice that he could possibly muster(Which isn't very kind when you compare it to that of a person such as Kurama)and gazed at him gently.

"I'm sorry for scaring you, but I won't hurt you."

such words would reassure some; but when Hiei offered out his hand, Kurama cringed away and averted his emerald gaze.

"Listen! I haven't come to hurt you! I just want you to tell me something" said Hiei, almost losing his patience for the umpteenth time today. This tone only made Kurama whimper softly and scrunch himself harder against the wall. Hiei placed a hand on his shoulder, and almost immediately realized this was a vital mistake. Kurama shuddered and gave a soft and terrified scream before running and taking cover under his kitchen table. Hiei growled, stomping his feet and storming out of the house, leaving an open door in his wake. Kurama was left to tremble, finally breaking the action by falling to the ground and coughing hard. Okay, so maybe he was sicker that he'd acknowledged. He felt the full effects of the fever, but that wasn't the point. Who had that been? Why had he been in his house? These questions overwhelmed him, and he collapsed of fever onto the cool tile floor.

Botan floated in the air on her paddle. At the current situation, she frowned. Both were stubborn, but she believed the would make such a great pair, if Hiei wasn't so cold and Kurama so frightened of Hiei, maybe they'd have a better chance at being friends. She seriously doubted that they'd ever get used to each other. The girl flew off on her paddle to Spirit World, shaking her head at the thoughts of the day.

Hiei darted among the trees, cursing himself for even trying to get close enough to talk to him. This boy was so pathetic, it wasn't even worth laughing over. Vaguely, he wondered how such a charming looking person had gotten to be so fearful of anything that even reached out to touch him. This thought was pushed out of his mind however, when he reminded to tell Botan that it was a job for an idiot to make friends with that coward; and that he refused to do so.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Okay! That is where I choose to leave off for this chapter. Please you reviewers, do not be shy, I love any input you have, be it praise or constructive(ya here me CONSTRUCTIVE) criticism. No flames just for the yaoi. If you really don't like my fic, find another reason to flame, at least find something I really did wrong. Other than the fact that I'm sick, twisted, and retarded for thinking that Kurama and Hiei are a couple. Arigatou gozaimasu for taking you time to read my fic, and I hope you continue to do so! Next time, we'll have a glimpse at why Kurama is so scared at people. Which means, FLASHBACK TIME! Yay! Ja ne


	3. Chapter 3

_**Enemies from the start, lovers until the end**_

Welcome back everyone! And I say, for anyone keeping track of the calendar, I only took four days to write this, yahoo! I hope anyone who celebrates Independence Day is having a nice time. I have nothing better to do then write. Yeah, my family celebrates it, but have I ever told you that have practically no life? Well, yeah, my family isn't on vacation, we aren't having or going to a large barbeque, and I hope to god my dad doesn't set off our own fireworks. We may go down to our village's (Yes, the still call it a village, although I'd consider it a town seeing how large it is.) firework show though, so that's a plus.

To all you people who took the time to review:

**HxK**

Well, I'm glad you liked it. And yes, to answer your question, a reviewer did once tell me to go to hell because I liked yaoi. The other two flames on this previous fic were just lectures on how sick I was. But oh well, I'm probably going to hell for my sick mind that only my friends will see the true side of on some rare occasions. But, thank you for the complement, and I hope you'll review in the future.

**LoL **

Yay! You reviewed again. I appreciate that even more! Soon as possible laughs I always try to do that. I had a lot of graduation parties this weekend, not to mention; my own. Yay though! I got Four Yuu Yuu Hakusho plushies. The other fic, lets see, I've been planning and thinking on that one for a long time. I also have my friend requesting to do the Among Icy Hearts Sequel, which I don't even have a title for yet. I'm going to get that started as soon as possible, and I'm glad to hear someone's interested. Thanks again for your kind review.

**Evene**

Hmmm, well yeah, it wasn't really supposed to be humorous. But there's no worry at laughing at it. I laugh at things that aren't even remotely funny a lot. I was thinking of making Kurama have this dream where one of those creatures from the movie 'Tremors' was chasing him around. For those of you who don't know what a Tremor is, it's a Precambrian creature((Fictional, of course)that can reproduce without having sex, when it eats, it coughs up an egg for instance. Examples of living things that can reproduce without a male or female counterpart are amoebas, unless I'm wrong, ect. Anyways, these things can't see or hear, only able to sense someone's body heat, or just heat in general. Hey, I only saw the last thirty minutes of it, but it was pretty cool. I decided not to incorporate these since it is supposed to be a serious fic and I couldn't write something humor related if my life depended upon it. I do appreciate your constructive criticism. Yes, I know, my grammar and spelling are both horrible. I recheck it since I don't have my own spell check program. I know, fan fiction's offering a good office program for free. Although I'm a computer nerd and know how to remove viruses and what to trust, my dad feels I am naive. He thinks fan fiction's a big virus for gods sake, and he won't even let me download it if I scan it with the virus program first. Yes, he keeps promising me he'll install MS Word for me. I used to have it, but yeah, I had to reformat my hard drive and it went bye bye. Anyways, thanks for the review and I'm sorry I really rambled on here. Hope to see you reviews in the future!

**Blackrose vixen**

Yay! I have another reviewer who reviewed on both my chapters so far. That makes me really REALLY happy. I can't thank you any much more than I already am. I'm glad that you liked the last chapter and I hope you'll like this one. So here you go, and I hope to see your review again. Doomo Arigatou Gozaimasu!

**Kurafoxgirl**

Another kind, kind, reviewer person. I really enjoy that you liked it. Thank you!

**Blackbird Serenade**

Yes, I know. I got these reasons from a flamer. what I was saying, is, I acknowledge the fact that Mukuro and Hiei are most likely together. Blech, I say they make a horrible couple, they're too much... alike. I like to think of them more as friends' not more than Kurama, who I still say is a better friend to Hiei, even though half the time, Hiei denies it. Everyone says Kurama's got Maya, and I couldn't protest to that. It's still nice to say that they'd make a great couple. But, yeah, she's out of the picture as you say. I'm not some rabid fangirl who runs around screaming 'MINE' all the time just because I like Kurama. In fact, he's my favorite to pair with people. Yeah.. I'm weird, I know. But I can blame my insanity on the yaoi, for insanity is linked to yaoi as it is. And yes, dear old Togashi-san did say they didn't have any sort of relationship. but who gives a care, They're called doujinshi, fanart, and fanfiction for a reason. This is a point I've been trying to illustrate the entire time. Although they really aren't a pair, doesn't mean we can't dream, hope, and sit in our own little world enjoying people writing of it. They still make a sweet pair, nonetheless. I couldn't care less that they are both boys, and in fact, I like it better that way.

As a note, flashbacks in this chapter will suggest the fact of Kurama having long hair at the age of twelve. I know that this isn't true, but lets just say that this is an alternate universe and I'm changing it. He also won't retain his memories as a youko, although he is youko's reincarnate.

Disclaimer: I own nothing that Togashi-san created, oh yes, I do have some plushies and a nice keychain. Oh yes, and that wonderful poster too. But besides that, nothing else. This fic is strictly for entertainment uses and will not be reproduced or sold. I also acknowledge an characters, except for the possibility of a few original ones, are created to said person

Warning: I will not say this again, if you don't like yaoi, turn back. Leave! I also must warn you, hints of rape, and torture will be definite in the NEXT chapter, and will also come it play later on. If you don't like that either, I suggest that unless you're planning to deal with it, you turn back now.

You reviewer people! I have seen you! 209 hits and thirteen reviews do not correlate with each other, I hardly doubt that only my reviewers have done that. Although it isn't your obligation to review, it motivates, meaning, I'll write faster and more efficiently. So please, unless you're absolutely set against the idea of reviewing, I'd appreciate it if you did.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_**Chapter three: His Memories, a Past of Pain and Horror Part I**_

Kurama moved uneasily on the floor. With the loss of his conscience, sleep was brought, but it wasn't peaceful; rather, it was as restless as the night before, memories of the past torturing him every second. His face was still plagued with fever, an almost dangerous seeming fever. This was the type to worry for, although Kurama was in no position to argue with it, his attention focused on the memories that had laid themselves before his eyes; ones that he couldn't forget all so easily.

_It was a beautiful town, the landscape was perfect and you couldn't hope for anything better than this. The skyline was clear and peaceful, complementing the beautiful, clear blue sky above. The long grass and dirt roads gave beautiful accent to the ornate little cottages of many colors. To the west, you cold see A mythical looking forest, filled with pines, Japanese maples, and sakura. Often times, if you wandered out at night you'd see a wolf pack, hollowing at the luminescent moon or a deer pack grazing peacefully. A young teen smiled happily as the night breeze greeted him, a small smile growing on his face that easily accompanied shimmering, youthful jade eyes._

_He'd looked so different back then, yet still the same. He was defiantly shorter, by almost a foot, from his fifteen-year-old self. also, he still retained the looks of a boy, having yet to grow up and take on slightly more teenish appearances. He was also dressed innocently. The clothes varied form his teenage form. He didn't wear black like he did a lot nowadays, and although he was dressed slightly different than most parents would say is a look fit for a young boy, he looked as if his parents still chose his clothes sometimes._

_As he walked, a light wind blew the long hair of the redhead, it gave him such a beautiful, sylphlike appearance.. It was like, he wasn't to tan, the perfect shade of white and brown mixed together, and he wasn't to thin. At the same time, his slender body gave him a somewhat girly appearance, along with those large, emerald orbs. Of course, one shouldn't, but should, mistaken, such a polite young person was indeed, a boy. He word dark green button up shirt that was tucked into white, and he was much more intelligent than what met the eye. He in fact, Had already finished school subjects far past his level; all the way up to the last year of high school. That's the type of outcome you'd typically see from a person of this village, they were all very smart, expect for his two friends. Kuwabara and Yuusuke were not stupid, but they weren't as smart in the sense that they slacked off on their studies. It was a rare feat to see either of the two reading a textbook. The thought made the redhead chuckle._

_Speaking of which, the two ran up to Kurama greeting him louder then necessary. "OUI Fox-boy!" he smiled and replied with his own polite greeting_

_"Oyasumi-nasai" The raven-haired boy punched Kurama on the back of the shoulder playfully and looked questionably at his friend._

_"Fox-boy, what're you doing out at this time. I mean, I know you're lucky enough to be allowed out because your parents trust you, but you never come out here at this time. He smiled and shook his head. He had no need to sneak out every night like they did. it was true that his parents allowed him out as late as he wished as long as he left a note saying where he was going and when he would be back. He rarely took advantage of this privilege, but since he couldn't sleep, he'd decided to do so since it was such a nice, cool night outside. Still, his silence offered an answer enough for Yuuske and he continued without any other word. _

_"Me and Kuwa are going to the forest tonight, you want to come with?" Kurama shrugged and followed as they walked. While Kuwabara and Yuusuke rambled on about how they'd seen a great wrestling match on television, Kurama followed a few feet behind, enjoying the peace the night offered despite Kuwabara and Yuusuke's rambling. He sighed at they reached the forest, taking in the fresh scent of the trees. he'd always really loved nature, foxes for some strange reason too. This attraction to said things earned him several different names from his two friends. They always called him 'fox-boy' or when they were mad at him 'tree-hugger'_

_Well, the nicknames weren't cruel at least. He had to give them that. But it did get slightly surprised when all they'd refer to him was fox-boy, even around his parents. At least nobody else used the nickname. Not that ever stoic Kurama would mind. Nothing ever seemed to get to him, not even his friends bickering and ignorance. He paused to tell his friends they were going to hurt themselves if they climbed much higher in the tree, where the branches that couldn't support their weight were. He merely sat in a tree, watching in case one of them did hurt themselves._

_The night passed itself easily, Kurama headed home around one o clock o he could get some sleep. Of course, Yuusuke and Kuwabara stayed out well into the night; having only the time to slip into bed before their parents awoke. Kurama was awake at six, and despite his late night, he felt well refreshed and ready to get up. When he came into the kitchen, his mother, Shiori chimed a cheerful greeting before making a request. "Kurama, would you mind going out to the store for me quickly, It seems I'm out of eggs and I was already planning on making omlettes today."_

_"No problem mother. I'll be back as soon as I can." Kurama said in an equally as cheerful voice. On his way to the door, he ran into his stepfather, who was dressed and walking down the stairs, but still half asleep. _

_"Hello, father." He yawned slightly before blinking and saying. _

_"'Morning Shiori-koi" And walking to the kitchen in hopes of ending his fatigue with a large cup of coffee. Kurama didn't take any offense at the misconception and simply put on his shoes and walked out the front door. Sun greeted him along with the relaxing twitters of several different species of bird. Dew still covered the grass due to the still early, but not too early time. The e store wasn't that far away from his house, and with Kurama's fast pace, he reached the place within minutes. It must've only taken him five minutes to grab the ingredients that his mom had requested along with the eggs before he reached the counter._

_The sales clerk greeted him kindly. Practically everyone was cheerful here. "Ohayo Kurama-kun. Are you running more errands for your mother?" She smiled and blinked back with an intelligence that wasn't unusual to see in this village. _

_"Yes Yukimura-chan. How have things been going with you and Yuusuke?" Keiko was Yuusuke's girlfriend. A lot more smart and outwardly kind than him. But of course you didn't want to make her mad, those kitten brown eyes could go from such a kind state to that of a murderer's in a fraction of a second if provoked. Yuusuke had a good reason to be scared of her. She was the only one he truly feared._

_"Yuusuke and I are perfect, arigatou. Tell your mother I send my greetings" she said, as she handed him a paper bag with his stuff in it. He waved and began to walk home, careful not to drop the eggs. He delivered all the things his mother had requested quickly, making his mother smile. She told him to go sit down and wait, for within minutes, she held a plat of her famous omlettes for everyone. With that, his brother arrived, taking an omlette and beginning to eat._

_"This is delicious mom. You never fail to be the best." said Kurama's little brother. Shiori blushed at the comment. Kurama got up. "Well, mother, I'll be outside, I guess I'll see you later." he kissed he farewell on the cheek before walking out the front door. He walked ahead, wandering around town for a little bit before he found Yuusuke and Kuwabara. _

_Before he came into sight of Yuusuke and Kurama, he saw a muscular figure with an axe, Bui. He waved with his axe slung behind his back. Although he looked like a monster, he chopped much wood for the village, and he was Kurama's friend. Bui waved back, heading off in another direction. That's when Kurama spotted his friends, donned in their trademark fighting clothed. The waved for him to come of and Kurama complied._

_"C'mon fox boy, were're practicing sparring and we want to teach you some moves. Kurama shook his head, telling them that h should just stand off to the side and watch, but Yuusuke and Kuwabara said they wouldn't take no for an answer. They showed Kurama a proper defensive stance before speaking._

_"Fox-boy, this'll be useful one day when you running from a rapist or something." Kurama looked at them, baffled. _

_"Yuusuke, Kuwabara-kun, I don't think that such a ridiculous thing would ever happen. You know as well as I do, this town is devoid of all crime. We don't even need a police squad to control it."_

_"Well, I promise you it will come in handy one day."_

_"Okay, try and block us." They ran at Kurama, fists raised. Kurama threw his arms up in attempt to block him, and managed to block Kuwabara's hit. The downside? Yuusuke hit him right in the gut and sent him flying backwards._

_"Oops I think I put too much power into that.." replied Yuusuke as Kurama writhed in pain on the ground._

_Hours later, Kurama stumbled into his home, crimson hair still ruffled from the day's training. Kuwabara and Yuusuke said that he was okay at blocking, and once he could block any punches, kicks, or brutal attacks they threw at him, they'd teach him how to attack. As the weeks, passed, Kurama slowly improved, but didn't move onto attacks yet. Shiori began to worry for her son, he'd come back exhausted, often times, bruised and sore. He told her he was learning self-defense to defend himself and his family, if necessary. But he was diligent, and kept training. And one day, Kuwabara finally announced he was ready to teach him attacks. Kurama cheered when they told him he'd have the day off as a reward. He smiled and ran out to the forest to enjoy his time alone. he couldn't remember the last time he'd gone without training for a day. He must've fallen asleep, for when he awoke, he found himself in the same Sakura tree he'd sat down in, surrounded by darkness. For a minute, he thought that he'd awoken from a dream, but a sudden scent caught his nose, coming from the direction of his village._

_...smoke..._

_He leapt off his perch and ran at top speed, only to find to his horror, his village burned practically to the ground, a few houses still in flame. He walked to the destruction that should've been his home. Only a large pile of ashes and rubble. He growled and looked for the arsonists who had started this fire. He heard cackles and screams of villagers. When he found the source, Kurama felt like fainting. The remaining members of his village, laying slaughtered on the ground. A cry rose in his throat as he leapt towards the attackers, without thinking. His mother was tied in a corner, alive but bound by ropes. The demon smiled in an almost sadistic manner. Kurama could immediately identify this person wasn't human. He felt two people grab his arms and fold the forcefully behind him. A cry of pain arose when he felt one of his arms being twisted in a way it should've been._

_"Keep him while I kill the girl." Kurama screamed and struggled using a few of the techniques he'd learned from Yuusuke and Kuwabara in an attempt to break fee, but he felt another one tie a rope along his legs and wrap an arm around his waist to restrain him further. He screamed at them to let his so, growling as the other guy brought his mother forward to a wall, pinning her against it and holding his sword at the ready. Kurama was otherwise restrained. He had one broken arm, and his legs were tied, so he didn't have much choice. He screamed as he saw blood of his beloved mother splatter, struggling even more. It didn't matter now; his hands were let go of his waist released, and his legs, unbound. Kurama cried out again and ran to his mother, ignoring the unbearable pain in his arm. He had always worried about others more than himself, it was a second nature. _

_"MOTHER! MOTHER!" he said, beginning to sob into her hair. He knew it was no use, he was vaguely aware of Kuwabara and Yuusuke's bodies nearby which made him even feel even angrier and sadder then what he felt before. Not angry with the people, but angry with himself, for no being able to do something. He was left in sudden fear of what was to come of him. His two friends were the strongest he knew, and these people had to be pretty strong to beat them. He sobbed into his mother's shirt before he felt his chin being lifted. The man who had killed his mother; Bui smirked back. _

_"Bui... w-why" was the only thing he managed to utter weakly in another wave of sobs. Bui smirked_

_"They pay much better than your petty town, fox." Why was he being called fox now. It didn't mane sense, but he kept his mouth shut, to sad to say anything else. He felt himself being pulled up and told to follow. This, he would not comply with, soft jade eyes narrowed in anger, and he pulled off towards his mother and friends' corpses. This caused a large bout of pain on his part since it was his broken arm being clutched, but he didn't care, he pulled even harder towards the ones he cared for._

_"Come fox, they are dead" Kurama said nothing and kept struggling._

_"Shall we kill him, Bui?" they asked_

_"No. The master stated he wanted this boy alive, so it would be pointless to kill him here. But let's go, we retrieved what we came for. But please, do something about that struggling._

_"Hai!" Kurama felt something hard and metallic collide with his skull. they'd hit him on the head with a pole. A hard one by the looks of it. Kurama was overcome by dizziness and nausea, falling to the ground with no more need for struggle. There were a few words he heard, only noticing they were directed at him when he felt Bui's putrid breath brushing his skin as he whispered to the redhead._

_"Don't press your luck, our beautiful fox. For you are better off now, that later. Consider yourself warned" After Bui finished his sentence, Kurama felt himself wavering on the edge of consciousness, all went black._

_--------------------------------------------------_

Muhahaha! Cliffie! Torture and rapeish indications to come in the next chapter.

Yeah, so it probably isn't the best chapter. But I'd say I'm pretty much as satisfied as I can get for now. As for updates, I'm not busy, and unless anything major happens my updated will go smooth for the rest of the month. August is when it gets hectic. Week one, I go to camp for a week. Then the week after the following week, I go back to school. August 17th it is. But still, my updates will be frequent until I get to high school. I don't know what it'll be like, but I've heard this school I'm going to gives plenty of homework. I'll always find some time to update, though. I don't even know if these homework rumors are true. Just like that rumor about the seniors throwing new kids in the poolsweatdrops I doubt that...

Anyway, you read it, now, REVIEW IT!


	4. Chapter 4

_**Enemies from the star, lovers until the end**_

_**To all you reviewer people whom I love so much:**_

**Kuranga108**

Yay! I'm glad you liked my chapters. Frankly, I'm not sure that they were that good, but still. I'm glad people are enjoying them. As for your question, No. Humans do not know about demons. And yes, Hiei shall be a demon. Although you'll find out why he's more in tune with money ect., and acts more human. And hey, I stole my dad's office computer that has a spell checker. So, I copied all my stuff on my computer and am revising it here. I enjoy being able to spell check it without having to look through it. It gets to be such a pain doing it myself since it takes long and no matter how many times I go through it I still have numerous mistakes. Hmmm, maybe you're right. x.x I gave a huge hint, so I'm sure most people already guessed who it was.

**Lol **

Yeah, poor Kurama. I'm so mean to Kurama. I should hardly be able to call myself a Kurama fan. I killed him in my last story. Don't ask me why.

**Evene**

That's gotta stink. Well, do you at least have a spell checker? I'm stuck on one without it, but I'm lucky enough to get on here and use my dad's one today. Thanks for the review!

**BlackRoseVixen05**

Wow…

Thank you so much for the complements. I'm really glad that you liked it.

**Makaihi**

Well, I wouldn't say you're review is harsh. I do want to know what people think. I don't know what type of mercy you mean though. If I'm mean to the readers, I am SO sorry.

Either way, I appreciate you truly telling me your opinion

**Taiya**

Why thank you Taiya-sama Remember, get your story up sometime. You still working on that 'Hearts of Wolf and Fire' one? Maybe I could help you out a bit. I'd love you help with my story next time we see each other as well

**CHII**

Well, I don't know if I can either speed up the pace, nor put in a good cliffhanger, but I thank you for your opinion. I am revising the grammar, so it's a start.

Welcome back all or you people! So, here's chapter four, as promised. I hope all of you are doing well. My warnings go as follows, although there may not be a romantic relationship between Kurama and Hiei at the time, there will be later. If anyone had a grudge and/or undying hatred towards the pairing, don't kill your time by reading it. There will also be a side yaoi pairing in this chapter, but it isn't going to be major, just read to find it out. I don't want any angry mobs coming to torture me for putting Kurama-sama through torture. Gomen-nasai! bows But I will warn you also, torture and hints of rape in this chapter. Yeah I know. I promise, noting graphic with the rape stuff. I don't intend for it to be a mature fic, so it will live up to it's rating, falling in the PG-13 catagory. I own noting Togashi-san created, although I know there are numerous people who wish they did. I don't have the creative talent that he has. Shall we continue on with the fic?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_**Chapter four: His Memories, a Past of Pain and Horror Part II**_

_Kurama's eyes snapped open, and he wondered in dismay what had happened for a moment before he remembered. The fire, his mother, friends, all gone..._

_The thought readily brought tears to his eyes, but he held them back. He used to be so calm, he never cried. He reminded himself that if only been at the village, everyone else's lives might have been spared. They had said before they were looking for him, and only him. He could've bargained that he'd come in exchange for their lives. All his friends and family were dead, the only things in the world he valued, more than even his own life. He couldn't hold it back, a sob escaped his lips and he collapsed to the ground, shaking violently. He remembered the pain in his head from being hit with that pole, but compared to his current losses, it was the least of his concerns. It still stood he didn't care about himself, even when he felt crimson liquid trickling form the wound on the wound on his head onto the stone floor with a plink._

_One thought went through his head, he had to get out of here. If he stealthily avoided the guards he assumed were probably stationed around here, he could at least go back to his village and create proper graves for the fallen. He wiped his tears on he back on his torn sleeve and walked forward, peaking under the crack of the door for signs of guards stationed directly outside of the door. "I see you're awake, young Kurama" Kurama's eyes widened in dread at the cold voice behind him, the very tone sent shivers down his spine. He turned to see a dark figure standing against the wall opposite of him. _

_The very appetence of this guy was enough to scare someone. He wore a black, long cloak that stood out against extremely pale skin. Long black hair was tired back and a silver mask hid his face. all that was visible were cruel, azure eyes that had a sadistic look about them. Kurama froze where he was, but remembering what Kuwabara and Yuusuke had said; put his fist up in preparation to defend himself. The guy chuckled and walked his way. Kurama trembled hard in fear. His eyes, if possible, looked even more cruel than before. But judging by his features, was only three or four years older than Kurama. Still, the dark figure towered over him with an almost dominating height. He reached out a cool hand and touched his cheek, and Kurama attempted to step away. Before he could do that, an arm encircled his waist and pulled him opposite of the way he intended to go, forwards. He struggled in the close embrace, squiming and breathing hard in fear. _

_"It's a pleasure to do this fox..." He whispered seductively as Kurama continued to squim. _

_"Know my name... Karsu" With this, Karsu licked Kurama's ear. Kurama whimpered and managed to draw away, running to the most sheltered place he saw; a dark corner. Karsu approached him; the sadistic glint in his eyes growing yet more. He drew out a metal spiked whip, lashing it out at Kurama. As the whip cut across the flesh, Kurama held back a scream as he cringed away. Blood dripped down his side and took away pain from his already injured head and arm. Kurama tried to focus on something other than the pain as he felt Karsu grab his broken arm roughly, squeezing hard. He couldn't help crying out, it was as simple as that. He smiled again as he trailed his tongue down the arm, earning a shiver on his part. _

_"P--please.." Kurama whispered. All he wanted was to leave, noting more. Besides, what had he done to deserve this. A whip created a long trail of blood down his already injured are and he winced. Karsu only took advantage in continuing to torture him, reaching up his shirt and raking his claws up and down Kurama's back. Still, Kurama kept his mouth shut, forcing himself not to shed tears. This was made tougher to do when Karsu threw him hard against the wall, Kurama swore he felt the bones in his upper right leg crack along with more in his arm that were already almost completely shattered. He forced himself still, to bottle up his pain, even when he felt a sharp dagger giving him generous cuts over his entire body. He felt to weak to move, and attempted to sting before Karsu lay beside him and drew him into another embrace against his chest. Kurama felt to weak to struggle, and was only to be further scared when Karsu planed a rough kiss on his lips. Kurama shuddered, eyes widening a considerable amount. He'd never been kissed before, and was quite shocked by it now. Karsu was being purposely rough and forceful, making him give up against the cold lips. He'd have to focus on escape later, and focus on keeping his mouth shut from Karsu now._

_ Indeed, Karsu's tongue attacked at his mouth, attempting to force Kurama's mouth open. The younger boy struggled again now, fearful of what might happen next. Claws scratched hard at his back again, more painfully than the first time, leaving deep wounds in their wake. Karsu succeeded in drawing Kurama's attention away from the kiss for a second, and with that, was able to plunge his tongue into Kurama's mouth. Another shudder traveled through Kurama's body as he felt his mouth being explored. Karsu simply enjoyed, putting a hand behind the other's head to deepen the kiss. The sound of an opening door was the only thing to make Karsu pull back from the fearful Kurama._

_"Master, we have a band of cat demons attacking on the northern border." Karsu nodded and motioned for the guy to come closer. _

_"Take this one to his cage" The guy only nodded and bowed as his master left. He went to go grab Kurama roughly up again. In those emerald eyes, defiance was still evident. Kurama wouldn't let himself be taken without a fight. He knocked the guy's arm off his own and limped far away from the person. He would never listen willingly, he refused. With that, the guy seemed to anger, he grew a foot in size and a bushy tail along with ears appeared. Kurama wondered briefly what types of creatures were here._

_"You will come! He ordered, grabbing Kurama's torso and dragging the struggling boy towards him, finally pressing a knife to his heart as a threat. Kurama silently complied, observing their surroundings as they walked. As it seemed, this castle was endless as he now realized. Windows revealed a dark and bushy forest outside, nowhere near as welcoming as the one's Kurama had remembered. Pain arose as he was dragged along at a pace that was much to fast for him. His broken leg wasn't any use, leaving him to either to limp, or be dragged, bending and twisting his broken leg in uncomfortable positions. _

_A set of strong arms pushed him into a metal cage, only large enough for Kurama to lie down or curl up in. He met eyes with the guard though, eyes saying everything. It was a look that nobody had ever seen in his eyes a look of true sadness and hurt, of pleading and a desperate need for mercy and comfort, a gaze that just asked 'Why?' He forced himself to hold back tears. He just wanted an answer to why this had to be him. There wasn't anything especially special about him. He wasn't strong, nor was he some kind of criminal or monster, but what did that have to do with it? The guard only grunted and walked away, not caring to provide comfort. He sighed as he curled up in a ball, eyes sparkling sadly. The cold of the dungeon he was being kept in was starting to get to him, he shivered and pulled his legs closer to his body in hope for warmth as his blood continued to flow from his body._

_What seemed like hours later, he heard a door open, and the familiar click of footsteps against stone. Kurama only cringed back as far as he could, not caring to see who it was. A softer voice and kind tone met his ears. "Hey, you want some food?" Kurama looked up, expecting to see someone monster like again. Instead, he saw a boy who looked like he was a few years older than him, like Karsu, but kinder looking. The boy had short black hair and kind blue eyes. Fearful eyes met kind ones and Kurama gave another questioning look._

_"Don't worry. it isn't poisoned or anything, I have no intention of hurting you." He unlocked the cage door and handed Kurama the tray of food, still closing it behind him. Kurama looked at the food and took up a piece in his hand, scanning it over suspiciously. He wasn't sure who he could trust anymore, he'd trusted Bui, considering him a friend, and look where he'd ended up. The boy handed him a blanket as well. He simply adverted his gaze from the guy and took a small bite from a loaf of bread. It tasted good, and not having eaten in who knows how long, he gobbled down the rest quickly. The boy smiled and sat down next to his cage, Kurama still inched away when he reached out to touch his shoulder through the cage bars. The boy simply took back his hand and allowed Kurama to continue eating without interruption. _

_When he finished, Kurama looked up gratefully. "Thanks" he said softly, sliding the tray to him through the bars. Kurama would have thought he'd leave after that, but he stayed around for a while, Kurama found it enjoyable to be in company with him, and it was he who eventually broke the silence. "Who are you? Why are you here?" The boy paused for a moment._

_"Well, my name's Hikaru, I'm a spy for the cat demon tribe. Although, I bet you're wondering why I care for your safety. Yes indeed, I've been commissioned to oversee you when you aren't with Karsu-sama, but it doesn't mean I'm cruel hearted like him. As I said before, my intentions aren't bad for you like everyone else's here are." Kurama smiled a little and nodded. Frankly, he didn't know what the heck how was talking about when he referred to demons, weren't they only myths? He overlooked thought either way. He had to forget the pain, and now seemed to be a good release from that, even though his whole body was pretty much burning with pain from the aftermath of Karsu's beating. _

_"Well, I must go." Hikaru stood and walked out of the room. This disappointed Kurama; he'd been hoping to talk to Hikaru a little more, about what had happened with his village and how he felt. Kurama knew from numerous books on physiology that keeping emotions inside wasn't the smartest idea. And he immediately decided he had to talk to someone. Especially if his escape wasn't going to be anytime soon. He heard the door open and close again, he looked up eagerly in hopes of seeing Hikaru again, but immediately cringed back when he saw Karsu._

_"Hello, my beautiful fox." He opened Kurama's cage door and pulled him out, while Kurama tried desperately to hold onto the back of the cage. When Karsu succeeded, he pulled Kurama into his lap and pulled him into yet another kiss, beginning to unbutton his shirt. Kurama gasped when he felt a cold hand on the flesh of his bare chest._

_"N-no! Please!" Karsu teased some of Kurama's earlier wounds with his claws, letting a few open again as he moved his fingers down Kurama's body. The only thing Kurama did was wince and shut his eyes tightly, trembling under the touch. Fingers moved down farther as Karsu began to slowly caress his thigh. He opened his mouth to make another plea, but found his lips to be occupied by Karsu's, another dagger traveling fast over his body. Blood flowed over Karsu's hands and he seemed even more drawn to the redhead, he squeezed Kurama's left side painfully hard while digging his claws into the back of his neck. Kurama still squirmed with all his might while Karsu whispered different things in his ear, many of which, he cared not to pay attention to. he did catch one of his sentences._

_"Remember, nobody is trustworthy, there is nobody in this world who cares truly for you." Kurama's mind screamed the opposite, he was wrong, WRONG! What about his mother? His family? And how could he forget his friends? Kuwabara and Yuusuke had taught him such useful things. His new friend, Hikaru cared for him as well. Karsu seemed to read his mind._

_"You can't say that. Your family sold you out. You may not know it, but they were all my servants" Kurama forced himself to deny it while Karsu repeated it several times. _

_"And that Hikaru, He's just putting up a facade, I told him to do so"_

_"No, I-I refuse to belie-" He was cut of by Karsu's lips and claws again, that dreaded dagger as well. Every so often, he would draw away to give himself, along with Kurama air, but besides that, he didn't let up. Karsu finally drew away and looked at Kurama's bloody form with a satisfied smirk._

_"We had better get you to a healer, before these wounds leave scars on your pretty body." He smirked and licked down from his neck to his abdomen, before scoping him up. Kurama was to weak to protest, he'd lost a good amount of blood and he felt exhausted from it. A few minutes later, he vaguely recognized a bed that he was being set on. He turned his half-lidded gaze to the person healing him. He wondered how they were healing like that, it looked like magic. Somehow, though, he felt all his wounds close, his leg heal back up, and his arm do so along with it._

_"Remember, only heal his wounds," Karsu directed "I'd prefer if his pain would be left alone." Kurama only barely heard him, still too dizzy to realize what that had meant. And although there were bright lights in the room, he fell asleep in the comfort and warmth of the bed. Little did he know, Karsu still had much in store for him. _

_Months passed like this, he'd be beaten by Karsu, then brought to the healers once a week to be healed. And one day, it happened, Kurama got raped. He remembered the feeling of violation, humiliation, and most of all, despair. It had only been recently, but it constantly haunted him, and caused him to withdraw further from anyone except Hikaru, who came nightly with a meal and blanket for him, often didn't talk to the redhead, who was getting paler, weaker, and thinner by the day. Kurama had spent over two and a half years here now; he was nearing his fifteenth birthday. Hikaru had witnessed a change no one else there cared to notice, Kurama's beautiful green eyes had lost their sparkle long ago. His eyes were now devoid of any emotion and it seemed as if something had died inside. Now, Hikaru had to nag at Kurama to eat just a little, constantly reminding him that he cared for him. Kurama just didn't seem to care anymore. One night in particular, he was in a bad state. _

_Kurama knew there was no way of escape, and Hikaru seemed to know it too, he didn't have to stay in the cage anymore, but was locked in the dungeon instead. Hikaru knocked on the door and opened it, fading Kurama there, staring at the wall emotionlessly. "Kurama, I brought you some food." The black haired boy called out softly. Kurama looked back at him, eyes sparkling full of sadness and fear for a minute, but going back to their usual, dull selves after a minute or so. Kurama only sighed quietly and uttered a silent greeting._

_"Hi, Hikaru..." There was a moment of silence before said boy brought over the tray of food. _

_"Kurama, I know things are getting hard for you, but please, eat something at least." the boy was pleading with a desperate look in his eye. Kurama looked at the food before taking a carrot from the plate a nibbled at it without much interest, taking a piece of bread after that. He continued to stare at the wall as he chewed slowly. The redhead didn't even recoil when he felt a tentative hand on his shoulder. It was noting compared to the way Karsu's hands invaded his body. Still, Hikaru looked worried and sat down next to his friend. They'd grown so close in the time they'd spent together, now, Hikaru couldn't bear to see him suffer. But, the truth was, Hikaru was also a prisoner here, he just was more of a slave or servant, where Kurama was being hurt so much... They' been over it a million times, Hikaru knew how much he wanted to escape, and Hikaru had said it was a dream or his too, but as it was a dream, it was most likely unreachable._

_"Kurama, I really don't like to see you like this, I care for you..." Kurama hadn't said anything since he had greeted him, it made Hikaru sad to see someone who was once such a beautiful person that sad. He was broken, Hikaru could tell. The way he cringes away at Karsu's mention, or just would lie awake at night staring blankly into space, the apathy towards most everything, excluding Hikaru. Fear was easily aroused around anyone, and it was only Hikaru that had Kurama's rare trust. It seemed he was slowly slipping away. Whenever Karsu held him, he'd tell Kurama how everyone was a traitor, and that if he dared to trust anyone, his death would be certain. If not from natural causes, Karsu promised he'd kill him if that happened. But what was the point to it? even if Karsu world kill him eventually, who said he wouldn't die from his own starvation. His clothes now hung off his body, baggy and torn from abuse. The sheer differences in clothes size made him look all the much thinner. Hikaru felt so saddened. He remembered seeing now how instead of trying to run from Karsu, he'd let his arms fall limp, a look of fear and violation still in his eyes. How could Kurama not want to do anything about it now?_

_"Hikaru, what's wrong?" asked Kurama. That tone. He hated it so much. The concern he got should've been focused on himself, not Hikaru. Kurama never worried about himself, but rater, for Hikaru. He supposed it was probably because he was the only one Kurama had left, he'd heard about what had happened, his entire village had been slaughtered in one night, leaving Kurama more alone than ever. His old kindness was famous around the others, who talked about Kurama's torture with much amusement. Hikaru hated them for that. How dare they corrupt such a pure creature, strip him or all his dignity, and then treat him as nothing more then an object of some sort. He loved him so much... Wait! Hikaru stopped himself and cursed at it all. Had he said it correctly? He loved everything about him, yet he cursed himself in doing so. Kurama could never accept those feelings, despite his kindness. He felt is heart tear at the thought. Most thought of being a bisexual as sick. Hikaru had grown up in a home where they'd always told Hikaru that true looks beyond the gender and at the person themselves. He felt a tear fall down his cheek, but did nothing to stop it._

_"It's nothing, Kurama. You don't have to worry about me." Kurama looked as if he believed otherwise, like he knew Hikaru was lying. Kurama was smarter then that, but still, he accepted the answer. Instead of saying something, he outstretched a hand and brushed the tear off of Hikaru's cheeks. Feeling as if his vulnerable emotions would show themselves if he touched him once more, he withdrew his hand back to his lap, gazing to the ground in a guilty manner. As if to mimic Hikaru, a tear cascaded down his cheek, but instead of stopping like Hikaru had, he let more fall, allowing a soft sob to escape himself. He felt a hand brush both sides of his cheek in attempt to stop his tears as well, but instead they continued to fall hard, soaking Hikaru's hand quickly. He did not, Howe ever, draw away from Hikaru's touch. A long moment of silence passed between the two._

_"Kurama... please. You have to cheer up. I can't let you stay like this. I know it's painful , but if we can stick together, maybe..." A rare glare was give at this statement, followed by more tears._

_"Hikaru, I-I.." more tears fell. Hikaru'd had enough. He gave a soft cry of despair and drew Kurama into a loving embrace. Hikaru felt Kurama begin to tremble softly, but no more tears fell. He felt as if he should let go, yet, he didn't want to. He obviously loved Kurama way too much. With a sigh, thought, he asked, _

_"Kurama? Do you want me to let go?" Kurama shuddered but the shaking of his head was a motion even Hikaru noticed within the embrace/_

_"No, I.. I.. I like this." Hikaru felt a wave of relief at this, and smiled softly, stroking the back of Kurama's head in a soothing pattern of rubs and caresses. Hikaru had found out a little while ago it was one touch that he enjoyed. He didn't know why, perhaps, because it reminded him of someone. He wondered about it for a minute, but when he felt Kurama relax even further into the embrace, he forgot all about it. Kurama only sighed. This touch reminded him of is mother, and how she'd stroke the back of his head after he had a nightmare or when he was sad or hurt. Hikaru doing it made it feel all the better. Gods, how he loved him... If only he could tell him. But Hikaru would probably leave forever if Kurama told him that he loved him, much less, that he was bisexual. He'd enjoy the embrace for now, wishing it were more than it really was._

_"Kurama?" he heard a voice that aroused him from his daydreaming. He blinked for a minute, the answered back,_

_"Hai?"  
_

_"If I tell you something, do you promise that you'll still be my friend no matter what you think of it?" Kurama nodded in response before answering_

_"Hikaru, you're my only friend. Whatever you say, I promise, I'll still be your friend" Hikaru fumbled with the right words, finally managing to say;_

_"Kurama... you're so special to me, and I really care for you. But over the months, I must admit, that feelings been growing, and I have to say, I... I-I, I love you Kurama, with all my heart." Kurama's eyes widened in shock it at this sentence. He loved him? He was only an object of other's affections, but what Hikaru had spoken just now seemed so true. Kurama wanted it desperately to true._

_"I'm sorry I'll leave.. I bet you don't want me as your friend anymore." Hikaru turned for the door with his footsteps clinking softly on the stone. He heard a cry behind him before he felt someone latch himself firmly onto his arm._

_"No, please! I love you too Hikaru!" the words spilled out of his mouth before he had time to say anything else. Hikaru turned back to Kurama, shocked as he cupped Kurama's cheek. He couldn't believe it, what Kurama had just said. There seemed to be no need for explanation as the leaned slightly closer to each other. Kurama felt both fearful and excited at this, he'd never felt so ecstatic being so close to someone. The thought of it usually brought Karsu to mind, but now, he could be happy for once without Karsu's shadow looming in the distance. He leaned in a few more inches as he felt Hikaru wrap his arms around him, making it so that their lips were only a hair's length away. Emerald eyes stared into kind blue ones. Each whispered the other's name softly before slowly closing the distance between their lips._

_The kiss was wonderfully sweet, what each had been dreaming of for more than a little while ago, they were surprised by the softness of each other's lips, the taste as well. Kurama smiled into the kiss and wrapped his arms around the other's neck. The only interest he had currently in mind, was moving closer, deepening the kiss in the process. Hikaru seemed to share the same interest, their bodies touched each other lightly. Tentatively, Hikaru licked lightly against Kurama's bottom lip, pleading for entrance. Kurama shuddered at this, trying desperately to put his fear behind him. And for once, Kurama complied to someone's orders to do that. He blushed red as he felt Hikaru slowly explore his mouth. It was nothing like what Karsu did. That had been like ravaging, Hikaru was gentle, kind, and most of all, loving. Kurama felt as if he'd never known such love. They drew apart for air and Hikaru immediately drew the redhead against his body, stroking his hair with the comforting motions he loved. He felt Hikaru kiss the tip of his nose lightly, satisfied when Kurama shivered with pleasure below him._

_Kurama handed Hikaru a necklace around his neck, placing it in his hands and kissing the palm while he was at it. "Hikaru, this is a symbol of how much I love you, as long as you keep this, you're the only one I'll ever love" How sweet, the necklace was so beautiful, a silver locket with a rose twining around it. It was so realistic, so life like. Hikaru smiled big. _

_"I love it, thank you so much" he replied as he place the locket re smiling again. "I love it, thank you so much" he replied as he place the locket around his neck. Then, he continued on,_

_"I promise you Kurama, I'm going to save you, make you free from this prison. Then we can settle down where nobody will ever bother us ever again." Kurama smiled and snuggled against his neck, finding comfort immediately. There he fell asleep, a more peaceful sleep than that of which Hikaru had ever witnessed. _

_"Goodnight, love" he said, before covering him with a warm blanket and kissing his lips softly. He walked out of the room, feeling considerably better than he had earlier. He ran into Karsu on the way, not the best thing to do._

_"And why are you so cheerful? You should be begging for your life. Don't pretend, because I saw you trying to seduce my fox!" He felt Karsu pin him against the wall. Hikaru looked confused, but felt desperate, he couldn't die yet. Not when Kurama and he had so much going for them, at least not until he helped Kurama escape. He broke free and ran for Kurama's place. He was stopped short by a dagger through the heart, the look of worry for Kurama emanate for the rest of eternity. He fell forward, coughing blood onto the floor. Karsu didn't care, he growled._

_"Tomorrow, my fox, I will make sure your 'boyfriend' betrays you painfully. Then you die for your betrayal to me." Karsu stormed of to his own room, commissioning one of his more loyal servants to follow the task of taking Hikaru's form and befriending the fox. Sunrise seemed to come early, and the day started as usual. Kurama didn't care; he looked forward to Hikaru's visit that evening. Right on schedule, Hikaru walked in with his tray of food and blanket. Kurama got up from his seat and threw his arms around Hikaru, kissing his cheek lovingly._

_"Hikaru! I thought you'd never come!" he cried happily. The servant rolled his eyes at how naive the boy was being. He obviously loved Hikaru a lot, but this was practically foolish. Oh well all the easier for him, Karsu was soon to come, he just had to make sure the fox believed he betrayed him. He thought up a plan quick. He pinned Kurama against a wall and began kissing down his neck, nipping playfully and choosing a sensitive spot on his neck to lick. Kurama giggled; but moaned suddenly as he found who he thought to be Hikaru's hands wandering playfully up his shirt, teasing his flesh as he made his way up. Kurama didn't know Hikaru could be like this, but he really liked it either way, even if it was out of character for Hikaru. Signaling in his mind for Karsu to enter and explaining what his plan was, he continued to pretend showing affections. He aroused one last moan while he sucked on Kurama's bottom lip before Karsu came in._

_"Nice work, my servant, you have gained his trust." With that, Hikaru backed away, leaving Kurama confused at his actions. That wasn't right. He spoke up with rising bravery in his voice._

_"That isn't Hikaru, I know him; and he would never do this to me." Karsu laughed insanely._

_"Actually he would. I told Hikaru that he was to make you fall for him, to see if you would betray me. Obviously, he succeeded past my expectations. Now, I have a reason to kill you. Kurama turned his head away from Karsu, he would absolutely, positively, not believe him. As if to comment on the situation, Hikaru smirked in an expression unsuited for him, throwing Kurama's necklace at him. Kurama saddened, that had been his necklace, it must be Hikaru. He felt Karsu press a dagger to his heart, and he didn't care for once._

_"Didn't I tell you, there is nobody you can trust?" Through his sadness, he saw the door open, and thought of escaping. Hikaru didn't love him, so the promise they'd made to leave together was gone. He decided quickly, and shifted out of Karsu's grip. Karsu growled and yelled at everyone to catch him, but as he ran, he never looked back. His frail form gave much advantage because it made it harder for people to grab him. It was almost a miracle that he made it through the door untouched. Exhaustion was getting to him, but since he had an effective source of adrenaline, thanks to his body, he was able to endure and keep running. He was excited, before he felt Karsu's long whip snag itself around his arm. The two and a half years endurance of pain helped him there, and he was calm enough to unwrap the whip from his arm before distancing himself further from Karsu. His speed was near inhuman, and he wondered vaguely where he'd learn to run like that. Kurama didn't care for now, he just ran from the still catching up Karsu._

_An odd figure appeared in front of him; that of a girl that looked to be about his age. He stared, puzzled at the girl for a minute, and the blinked. "Hi! My name is Botan! And I'm here to help!" Kurama scampered to the side as a sort of portal appeared, Karsu was fast approaching._

_"Well come on!" she said in a singsong, cheerful voice. He wouldn't argue, anything to get him further away from Karsu. Not a second after he had jumped into the portal, it disappeared and Karsu ran into the scene, furious for not finding any trace of the redhead. His assistant stood behind Karsu waiting for him to stop rambling on how long it would probably take to find the boy._

_"Make sure to see that he suffers greatly once you find him" growled Karsu in a sinister voice._

_Meanwhile, Kurama fell out of the portal, Botan stood beside him. When he looked up, he saw that he was in a palace full of different colored ogres. They bustled around carrying papers and yelling several different things. It was like a huge office. He stood and looked around curiously, old fear getting to him as he backed away slowly. Botan blinked her pink eyes. She only knew friendliness, and had not known what Kurama had been through. She had just been told to go get him, as quickly as possible before anyone else found him. But he was so timid and fearful. it made Botan wonder what he'd been through. "Well, Koenma-sama said he wanted to see you. Follow me." She walked cheerfully with a large smile on her face, this made Kurama wonder about how someone could seem so cheerful. Her blue hair bounced in the ponytail she had her hair pulled back into, and her pink kimono swished as she walked. They reached a large set of doors, and upon going through, came upon a toddler, sitting at a desk among piles of paperwork. Botan bowed and greeted him, leaving Kurama there after she left._

_"Kurama? Would you like to sit while I explain something?" Kurama shook his head slowly, still scared and confused when he heard the toddler talk. Koenma sweatdroped._

_"I know I look like a toddler, but I'm centuries older than you." Kurama nodded, still a bit dazed from the change in surroundings. Koenma continued._

_"For the past two and a half years, we've been looking for you Kurama. That guy who took you, Karsu, is a criminal who stole once from reikai and is known for his sadistic ways. But we've been keeping tabs on you your entire life because of what you are. I may say, you were probably wondering why Karsu always called you fox, right." Kurama simply nodded._

_"Well, I know you wouldn't remember, but you're the reincarnation of a fox demon that went by the name of Youko Kurama. A still ruthless thief. Even after all these years, you're on the wanted list. But I have a proposal to make. Despite the fact you're a reincarnation only, you could still go to spirit world jail, and I don't want to have to do that. But there's a town near the mountains in the human realm that needs protecting. To make up your sentence in jail, you could serve probation there and protect it from demons in the human world. I could send a demon by in a few months to train you. Do you agree?" Kurama nodded again as the little ruler began to go on about finding him a house, getting enough money for Kurama's food, and then finding good demon to train him. It was all a blur to Kurama, and in what seemed like one second, he was standing in the human world again, Botan and Koenma standing at his side and explaining numerous things to him. He only caught the town's name 'Kirei no yama'. They led him down to a small yellow cottage that they told him was his, and unlocked the door for him._

_Sighing, Kurama stepped into his house, Koenma and Botan waved bye and vanished. This only gave him the much-needed peace he wanted. It had been so long since he had been free, but memories of the past few days still haunted him. Hikaru, he hated him, and Karsu had been right, he really couldn't trust anyone how ironic... He sobbed softly into his pillow, clinging tightly to the necklace Hikaru had thrown at him earlier. With a sigh, Kurama stood and walked out the front door to explore his new home. It was raining, the soft downpour soaked him, but he didn't seem to care. There was nobody outside, at least that was good. The very thought of more people brought fear to his system. He clutched onto his necklace as more silent tears rolled down his cheeks. "Hikaru..." he whispered under his breath. A lake overflowing with rainwater can into view, and Kurama approached it, staring at his rippled reflection in the water. Lightening lit up the dark sky, showing a broken looking teen sobbing softly as he stood. Tears splashed onto his hands, mixing with raindrops that were already there. He glared at his reflection before throwing his necklace into the water and swearing never to let himself be hurt by love again._

Kurama awoke on his kitchen floor, saddened by the fresh wave of memories. I had been six months since his arrival, Botan and Koenma had sent a letter saying to give them a few months until they found a good trainer for him. He didn't care about the trainer, perhaps it was because he no longer cared. He wanted nothing more than death, what he thought to be the only release from his pain. A solitary tear fell from his eye, and without much care, he brushed it away with his thumb.

Hiei growled as he sensed Botan approach him from behind. "Don't bother, I'm not going to be friends with that bastard." Botan only smiled.

"Hiei, Koenma-sama wants to send you to jail, although you could get away without it if you become friends with Kurama" Hiei glared, but agreed, he hated being kept against his will, and h supposed he could always go to jail if Kurama got to be too much of a pain. He sighed with that, and the cheerful girl pushed him off in the direction of his house, blabbering about how sweet it was that they were going to be the best of friends. Hiei sneered at the idea, she should know He would only do this to get out of jail. No other reason. As soon as he managed to kill Koenma and Botan he could leave. He approached Kurama's house and opened the door.

Hiei growled as he opened the door up, only to find Kurama standing there practically paralyzed in fear. His eyes widened as Hiei entered, and he backed up a little. Hiei noticed the red on Kurama's face from fever quickly and said that he really should go see a doctor about the illness. Kurama merely shook his head and backed farther away. Hiei could tell he was close to fainting, he looked out of it and he wobbled slightly when he backed up. No sooner had the though crossed Kurama's mind when he fell forward, right into Hiei's arms. At least he could take him to a doctor now without than annoying protesting. He lifted Kurama into his arms and leapt out of the house, running at top speed.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, how did you guys like it? I mean, I don't know, it was defiantly longer than any chapter I've ever written, but maybe it was too long. I hope I didn't bore you, and gomen if I did. Either way, I'd like your feedback, whether you think it was good or bad, as long as you aren't lecturing me about the yaoi, I'm fine with any sort of criticism you have for me. Looking back on the pairing I had in here, I think I didn't do so well on that pare, oh well. You read, please review.


	5. Chapter 5

_**Enemies from the start, lovers until the end**_

Disclaimer: Me? Own Yuu Yuu Hakusho? Never! Ha-ha

Warning: Danger, danger! Yaoi/Angst story ahead, if you don't like it. Take the liberty of not reading it at all. If the thought disgusts you, think no more and turn back. There still are the happy little stories about Kurama and Hiei actually liking girls, so you can read them if you want.

To all you reviewer people:

**Evene**

Well, I'm glad you liked the length. I honestly didn't know I went so long, I just had so many ideas to write down, Hikaru was one of my added on ones that took up a lot of space. He wasn't in the plan before, but I don't really care about that. I'm glad there's no more confusion now, and I'm sure you have a clearer idea of why Kurama chooses his actions now. He isn't too out of character, is he? I'm hopefully making sure Hiei isn't as out of character as I see that Kurama is currently. Sounds good that you program has spell checker, although it sounds like it stinks in some ways, I'm just happy to have a spell checker on this one. In fact, this is my first chapter I'm doing on a word document, meaning It's a lot easier spell checking-wise. Thank you so much for reviewing, consistently for that matter.

**Lol**

Yay! I'm glad you like it. I see more then one person likes how long I made it. At first, I thought it would just annoy everyone. Yeah, poor, poor, Kurama. I'm so mean to him, I shouldn't deserve to say I love him…

Oh well, I'm just hoping my writings of Kurama's suffering didn't drive too many people away. I think I get in off of my friend. -.- She is in love with Marth, yet, he is her favorite torture subject, not to mention, person in numerous yaoi pairings. See? I'm crazy. I'm really bad about Karasu's name spelling, and I hate myself for that. I must go and work for hours to revise the rest of my spellings in previous chapters. I'll probably do that tomorrow. And yes, I am not perfect. I am the definition of imperfection. But het, I'm proud of it at least.

**Black Rose Vixen **

Yes, way too many bad memories………. GOMEN NASAI!

**Jay**

I'm glad you liked my story, along with the length. Thanks for your review and I'm glad someone thinks I'm not boring.

**Kuranga 108**

Yay, another person liked Kurama's memories. Yeah, well I bet Karasu's name being misspelled would bother you, so here you go, I'm putting it in my dictionary so if I spell it wrong I will know. (Yeah, I add all the names to the dictionary because I don't like seeing all the red lines) As for your question, I don't want to say anything, so you'll just have to find out.

**Mouku Mizaki**

Hmm, I see you like pain too. Yeah, from reading Alyson-sama's all the time, you'll either snap, get used to it, of learn to love it. So that's what happened to me. Yeah, Koenma should have to Kurama the truth about Hikaru, but as you said, that would be less fun. We don't want Kurama to have too much hope for the time being, now do we?

I have so many nice reviewers. I love what you say about it, since it's really reassuring. It's nice to know there's someone out there enjoying what I write, and it makes me appreciate what life has to offer a lot more than I usually do.

Note: Anyone wishing to know the name of Kurama's phobia? It's Anthrophobia. Yep, there is such a thing as fear of people. There are also more weird ones, such as fear of Japan Japanophobia., teenagers Ephebiphobia, walking Ambulophobia, and long words. Said phobia actually being the longest word in the English language, I think. Poor people scared of their own phobia name. Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia, that's a mouthful, ne?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

_**Chapter 5: Fever**_

Hiei sighed as he carried Kurama quietly through the twilight, running at top speed. He found it annoying that this town didn't even have a hospital. Gods, when he finally got his chance he'd make sure that he'd kill Koenma, then Kurama and Botan because they were so annoying. Hiei certainly did not like being ordered around, and it seemed it showed by the furious aura he was emitting.

The redhead stirred slightly and opened his eyes halfway, closing them again when he was overcome by a wave of nausea and fear. Indeed he did not like to be held this way, even Hiei could observe that. Still, the fact remained that Hiei could care less, much less, take any desire in showing that he took notice to the fox's state of fear. Kurama's thin, slender body trembled uncontrollably in Hiei's arms, but still, he felt too weak to move. The effects of Kurama's high fever were surely setting in, he felt extremely cold and shivers were mixed with his trembling. Why did it have to be so cold out tonight anyway. "Where a-are you taking m-me?" Kurama managed to stammer out.

"Hn, I thought someone such as you would have more sense than this. I'm taking you to a doctor since you're too ignorant to do it yourself." Kurama was on the brink of terror. Not only was he in the arms of a strange, standoffish person, but he was also being taken to a doctor. Doctors, Kurama didn't like them either, although everyone always said they had your best interest in mind, they only brought memories of the healers at Karasu's castle to mind. Kurama merely groaned and fell limp in his arms, breathing becoming more uneven and labored then it already was.

They reached a hospital within minutes, and Hiei stood outside for a moment to survey the fox again. He was worse then he has been just a little while ago, he was panting now, and sweating badly from what Hiei could tell was a serious fever. Vaguely, he wondered when the breathing trouble had arisen. Kurama squirming in Hiei's arms and muttering several words Hiei couldn't seem to make out. At least he was conscious. He brought Kurama to the nurse's desk and towered over the lady, waiting for her to answer. "Hello and how may I help you?" Hiei motioned as best as he could towards the panting boy squirming in his grip.

"What do you think?" He asked intensely. The nurse shivered, but called for a doctor as Hiei wished. When he arrived though, Kurama seemed to be frightened even more. Enough, at least, that he shuddered still more violently and buried his face in Hiei's shirt, despite the fact he also feared the one holding him.

"Come with me, I'm sure that he'd like you to be with him for a while," the doctor requested, motioning for Hiei to follow. Hiei merely rolled his eyes and sighed. This doctor was dubbed a fool now. Courtesy of judgment, complements to Hiei. What did he think of Kurama and Hiei as? Friends? The though both angered and amused him Kurama clung loosely to his shirt, whimpering every now and then. Hiei wondered for the umpteenth time what turn of events had brought him to this stage of evident fright, he'd never met someone so cowardly in his entire life!

A door was opened for him and he walked through the threshold, sitting down and prying Kurama out of his hands so he could be laid on a hospital bed. Kurama panted slightly and drew away form the doctor's hands, eyeing both forms wearily with half closed eyes. At a glance you could see how dull and ill looking they were, despite their usually healthy look. He took breathing slowly, drawing in each breath with careful precision. The doctor was only to shake his head and begin to survey the patient's condition further. Kurama only drew away more, but was still unable to avoid the doctor's touch.

His face was lifted and his eyes glanced into, temperature taken, such things. The doctor frowned at the thermometer he'd used a moment ago. "104.3? Hmm, not good…" At that Kurama coughed harder, panting for more air again and pulling away from the two, closing his eyes, laying down and giving a shudder. The doctor turned to speak to Hiei,

"His symptoms are pointing towards the possibility of pneumonia, a severe case to be precise, let me try and diagnose his condition and you can go wait in the waiting room. I'll tell you when I know more."

The doctor continued to examine Kurama, who screamed slightly and drew away when the doctor took a stethoscope and reached up his shirt to check his pulse. Yet another Iatrophobic person he had to deal with apparently. Kurama didn't say anything, but trembled as the doctor gripped his shoulders in an attempt to calm him. Ha. Like that worked. He sighed and confirmed his suspicions, asking a nurse before he left to get Kurama a breathing mask, IV, and medicine once he left. He did remember too comment on Kurama's fear, warning her to be careful. Her only comment was

"Poor, poor, dear." She sighed upon entering the room, greeted by a fearful figure that cringed back as she stepped closer. Poor thing, he was so scared, she gently reached out to inject him with proper medicine to help the fever. At first, he didn't draw back, but when he felt the prick or the needle coming in, the in a second, out he jumped back and gave a cry of disapproval. She sighed, clicking her tongue as she drew a breathing mask around his face. She could see that he was panting, and then took her chance to insert the needle for the IV while his attention was focused on the breathing mask that had just been placed around his mouth. He still drew away slightly, but this time the nurse smiled and patted his hand gently. "There we are. I hope you feel better, dear." With that, she left.

Hiei didn't need telling twice, he walked out to the room where three other people sat, surveying the sharply before sitting down in a soft chair. There was a young women in her twenties sitting opposite of Hiei, she didn't seem too notice what was going on around her, she was crying silently into her husbands shirt, who sat next to her, patting her back softly. And whispering three words over and over again. "There, there, Hikari" Another man about five years older paced around the waiting room, not sad, but as it seemed, worried about something. Hiei felt the doctor's presence nearing, and stood quickly, walking over to the door where he knew the doctor would come out of. He was just glad to find a reason to remove himself from here. The crying woman was beginning to get on his nerves.

The doctor sighed as he walked out of the door, rubbing his temples as if frustrated by something. Hiei only glared and waited for him to speak. After a few moments, he did.

"Well, I was correct in my predictions. Your friend has pneumonia, we need to keep him here since his fever's severe enough, such a high fever can have dangerous effects on the body if left untreated. We also have a breathing mask on him because he's having trouble doing so himself." The doctor paused and Hiei mentally rolled his eyes, waiting for him to get to the point. Experience told Hiei that he was holding back on something.

"Pneumonia is a virus, meaning that it can't be treated with antibiotics. So time will need to be given for his body to do the job. We can only relive his symptoms; the rest is up to him. He'll probably be in the hospital for a week or so, possibly a month depending on what time it takes for his body to recover."

"Does your friend have a phobia to doctors or something?" Hiei glared. How he hated that word, friend. He still replied though, still glaring.

"Umm, yeah." The doctor only nodded, seeming not to notice the manner in which Hiei was glaring at him in.

"Well, you can go along and see him, he's in room 183. Hiei was planning not to go at all, headed in that direction despite his plans. Nothing bothered him more then that boy now. Because of him, he was no longer free to come and go as he pleased. Now he had to be that, that… thing's friend. Hiei hated using that word much less thinking it. He swore again as soon as he was free of the chains that bound him back, he'd be sure to kill Kurama.

For some reason, he found himself entering Kurama's room totally oblivious to his thoughts a few seconds ago. There was nothing to do, and at least if he spent some time with Kurama he'd be able to at least become friends faster. The sooner, the better, he decided. Then he could focus on his plans of escaping these orders after that.

Kurama was laid in a different bed that looked slightly more comfortable then the last, but his eyes were still open, so he was clearly awake. Pain killing drugs must have helped him, because he didn't look half as pained as he had looked earlier. A breathing mask covered his mouth and nose, and a pulse monitor had been pushed next to his bed, along with an IV supplying his body with liquid. Kurama jerked away when Hiei came to sit down, emerald eyes, narrowing in a fearful, distrusting way. Hiei loathed those eyes, but was still forced of wonder why Kurama was so scared. It was unlike anyone. He decided there must just be something wrong with him. Yes… He'd just leave it at that.

Hiei sat down on a chair and continued to look at Kurama. The redhead went off to staring blankly at the wall with empty emerald eyes. He seemed to have forgotten Hiei's presence, until that is, Hiei shifted in his seat ever so slightly.

He shot about a foot off the bed with a small, muffled cry, trying to move as far away from Hiei as his weakened body would allow. That wasn't very far, he gave a cry of unnecessary pain before collapsing back on to the bed, breathing hard for a minute. Hiei'd had enough.

"What the hell is your problem? You're so scared and for no reason at all, I mean there is no mad killer I see coming after you. What are you, a coward?" Kurama's green eyed softened slightly with a sort of emotion Hiei was unable to depict. Was that sadness he saw in those jade depths? Not that he cared.

"No.." he replied in a soft and fearful voice, trembling despite himself. Hiei growled and leaned over the bed pressing the thin boy's body hard to the mattress.

"Then what is it?" He yelled back as the boy's eyes widened and he trembled hard, on the verge of screaming.

"What could possibly make you such a fool? Why are you so cowardly." No answer. A small tear fell from his eye, going unnoticed by Hiei who angrily stood up and stormed out of the room.

Kurama was left in his wake, sitting up and watching as the boy stormed from the room. He wiped a few tears from his eyes without care. The boy's words hadn't hurt, but they still scared him, bringing back several memories he didn't want to remember. Why did this always have to happen to HIM? All bad things seemed to happen to him, he was all alone and no matter what he did, where he went, he couldn't escape people who wanted to hurt him. Why couldn't this just be a nightmare? Why couldn't he just wake up and discover this was all a dream? He would wake up, and his mother would come rushing in, assuring Kurama it had only been a bad dream. The very thought of his mother brought more tears and a soft sob. "Why… why?" he asked softly as he buried his face in the pillow and sobbed as softly as his tears would allow.

Hiei, meanwhile, stormed far from the hospital, furious at the fox's actions. That was it. He'd have enough. Even jail, now, seemed like a nicer place then here. He wanted nothing more then to get away from this excessively phobic boy, he no longer cared how long they wanted him to serve jail time for. "Hello!" a chirpy voice jerked him out of his thoughts. Hiei rolled his eyes as he wave.

"How are you and Kurama doing?" she asked in the still chirpy, annoying voice. Hiei growled.

"I care not how Kurama is. Take me to jail now." Botan paused at the intimidating look he was giving her. She sweat dropped. Backing up lightly at the intimidation that came with Hiei's voice. It sounded as if he was ready to kill, and Botan, not wanting to become a victim of murder, stood her ground for the time being.

"A-ano… Hiei-kun you do know you'll be serving for several centuries. Four to be exact? With that, Hiei ran.

"Damn it all" he muttered.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Finally done. It took long enough looking at all the interruptions holding me back from writing. Curse you garage sale that I'm getting money from because I'm selling stuff I don't want anymore. Okay, so yeah. Please review. I'll appreciate it! Constructive criticism is welcomed, as long as it isn't a flame acknowledging that I have a sick mind and I need to get a grip on reality. I already know I need help, so please don't say it again you flamers, you. To the people who do like yaoi, I was wondering, I had this weird dream that gave me an idea for a story. What do you think of a Yuu Yuu Hakusho/Inuyasha crossover with a rather… odd pairing? MirokuxKurama to be exact. Yeah, I know, bizarre pairing it is. But tell me if you review what you think of it, still, it's just an idea.


	6. Chapter 6

_**Enemies from the start, lovers until the end**_

Well, hello everyone. I hope everyone is doing fine, no let me get on with the disclaimer. Hiei? Would you do the honors this time?

Hiei: The idiot teen owns nothing. Let us hope it remains this way, for I do not wish for her to own anything.

Me: This work is for entertainment purposes only, and will not be reproduced, used for public use and/ or used to make money in any way.

Now, let's see…. Warnings now. This story contains yaoi, angst, and mean ness to Kurama. Can you survive, or will you be… the weakest link?

Oh yeah, I don't own the weakest link either. Waves back lawyers No need, no need.

To you reviewer people whom I appreciate so much:

**Lol **

Well, I'm glad I updated when I did since you were waiting all day. Your reviews are so kind; I don't know what to say. I just didn't think people would like it so much. But still, I have to thank you for your consistent, supportive reviews. As for that fanfic you mentioned, it sounds like a very intriguing, yet nonetheless wonderful fanfiction. I think that crossover yaoi pairings sound great, because you'll never know what'll happen. I personally, have seen to many crossover fics with Kurama and Kagome together. KuramaxInuyasha though… sounds very interesting. I love bizarre stuff. Inuyasha and Kagome make a stinky enough couple as it is, but that's entirely opinion.

**Evene**

Yes. It is a big word indeed. Credit goes to my friend who taught me that specific phobia and is also able to say it as well. Given the circumstances, I'm glad you think Kurama is pretty much in character, as well as Hiei. I never really thought I was good at keeping people in character. Tries to think of what the real Hiei would do in alternate universe Hiei's place I wonder…. Yes, four centuries worth of jail time isn't the happiest sentence in the world. I wonder what Hiei did to deserve that? Well, thank you so much for you nice, not to mention, consistent reviews.

**Kuranga 108 **

Yay! Yet another consistent, kind reviewer, I thank you so much! Hmm, Hiei's pretty stubborn and not very smart when it comes to patience and getting people to trust you. I'm not calling him stupid, just… closed minded. Thanks again for the review, and I hope you are having a nice day/night/whatever.

**Kikira-san **

I'm glad you liked the line. It was just something I came up off of the top of my brain-dead head. Yeah, poor Kurama-sama. I'm so mean to him. Is it really kind of angsty? Never have I really written a story with true angst in it. Although, I am a nerd when it comes to reading the stuff. Thank you for the review!

**Psycho BakuRyou**

Well, you are mistaken on this part. I see you weren't sure about it, but the idea was not for this story. Merely, it's another one I haven't planned out yet. I have this story pretty much planned out up until the end. I leave my endings open ended until I know exactly how my story goes down on paper. But no, there aren't any contents of Inuyasha planned in the future of this fic, so not to worry. I may write one in the future after I'm done with my next planned fic. I'm glad you like it so far, and thank you for your opinion.

**Remy De Master Tief**

Glad you liked it, and thank you for the review. I hope you like my future chapter as well.

**Black Rose Vixen05 **

Hmm, drama. I never meant to put that in there. I think it's better when I'm not thinking about the genre I'm writing in. But glad you liked it. Yay for you because you're one of my four most consistent reviewers. Thank you!

**Kb**

I'm glad you like my story, and I promise you, that unless for strictly personal reasons that go beyond my control, I will continue this fic. I already know I have enough reviewers who care for me to continue, so I won't be stopped so easily. Thank you for your review, and I hope you like my future updates.

**GoldenKitsuneHime13**

Yeah, I am so mean to poor Kura-sama. I'm evil. No, I wouldn't expect Hiei to want to be in jail for so long. I know I wouldn't. Yeah, I know MirokuxKurama sounds odd, but yeah, I think it's interesting as well. Hmm, I'll think about Hiei and Kagome too, I usually am not one to focus on two pairings in one story, but who knows? I haven't even started planning it yet. No need to be sorry for your spelling, I'm not one to talk since I'm not good at spelling either. I must thank the nice spell checker on this computer though. Thanks for the review and I'm glad you liked it.

**LALA**

Lol, I didn't know that so many people would find the idea of a MirokuxKurama so attractive. It is indeed interesting. I do like to see a lot of Kurama pairings. As many say, he is a very pairable person. Some would call him a man whore for it, but I just say he looks cut in relationships with a lot of people. Hmm, probably has something to do with his pretty face and his pretty boy attitude. Alongside with his youko personality and the fact that he'd a fox makes him just about the most compatible guy I've ever seen. I never really said that Hiei was tall, though, did I? Maybe I did, but ah well. I do like the idea with tall Hiei, since I go for the idea of Hiei being the dominant one. I know that's a heavy debate, some prefer KuamaxHiei and some prefer HieixKurama. But I'm getting off subject on that. I'm glad you liked it, and thanks for reviewing.

**Kaya**

Aww, I'm sorry I left you. But as I hate it, the real world beckons me to come away from my own little world. I know, I wasn't feeling well today, so I slept A LOT, and over the weekend I had not only church, but also a 4H fair to attend to, which kept me busy until four o'clock. Hmm, life is not fair, for whenever I want to write, things are so loud around my house I can barely concentrate. Maybe Kurama can relate to you? Sure sounds like what you're saying pertains a lot to Kurama's situation. How bout you talk to him about it when I'm not here.

Wow. SO many nice reviews! I love you all so!

_**Chapter 6: Anger**_

Hiei walked along the path to the hospital, glaring at the ground. The great Hiei Jaganshi, taking orders from a giddy ferry girl and an annoying toddler. Even more so, he had to be friends with this Kurama boy. How had this come to be? So, he had killed a few important Rekai and stolen a few artifacts, weren't intelligent demons supposed to get away with that? Not get caught in the first place? For the past few days he'd been visiting Kurama in the hospital, there wasn't really a point, since Kurama almost never said anything. It only made Hiei all the more frustrated, and often left him to wonder why nobody ever hearing him yelling. Kurama was hopeless in Hiei's eyes.

He reached the hospital and walked inside the cool building. It was a nice break from the heat, but the scent of antiseptic made him want to hurl. The nurse greeted him cheerfully when he walked towards Kurama's room. "Hello Hiei-kun!" Hiei snarled, what an annoying person Sakura was, her cheerfulness was infuriating.

"Yaa, Sakura-chan" he muttered before stalking off towards Kurama's room. Technically, he didn't want to be here, but Botan said that since he had decided to take being friends with Kurama over jail, he'd have to maintain a 'friendly figure' at least. Stupid, annoying onna. He took his designated seat next to Kurama's bedside and looked at the redhead, not bothering to say anything. He thought of Kurama's condition. He saw Kurama recover rapidly over the past week, and even though he didn't need a breathing mask any more, it still seemed he was too sick to leave just yet. It almost seemed as if as time wore on, his sickness vanished weakness was replace. Kurama, himself couldn't deny he was weakening by the day.

This time, Kurama was staring at a tray of food that had been left for him, no seeming to want much to eat. Hiei had learned a long time ago Kurama barely ate anything, often times, he didn't eat at all. It was no wonder Kurama was so thin, yet another stupid attribute on his growing list of 'Things I hate About Kurama' When Kurama noticed Hiei, he only scooted farther away, looking down at his plate in an attempt to hide that familiar flash of fear that went through his eyes whenever Hiei was around. "You aren't eating." Hiei said, speaking the obvious Kurama sighed and pushed his plate off to the side. Hiei didn't really care about this. Maybe if the fox starved to death Hiei would be rid of all the annoyances. The only reason he had chosen not to go to jail was because there was the possible risk of being tuck with an idiotic demon for four hundred years. At least Kurama didn't talk, Hiei just had to ignore him whenever he visited. Not that it really worked, though. There was just something about him that annoyed the heck out of Hiei. Hiei asked the question, he always asked, trying to keep his voice at its calm, distant level. It was getting sickening, but Hiei knew Botan would never let him get away with it if he didn't.

"Why are you always so scared?" No answer, the redhead didn't seem to hear him, he only stared blankly down at the plate. Kurama swore internally that he wouldn't allow himself to answer the question. He knew it, Hiei was a servant of Karasu. He believed that Kurama would fall for the same trick as he had for Hikaru. He swore, that would never, ever happen. Hiei's anger was at a breaking point. It was nowadays tried easily by the redhead's actions.

"Damn it! What the hell is your problem?" Hiei burst out, grabbing Kurama roughly by the shoulders and shaking him fiercely. Why the hell did it have to be like this? Kurama was so…. so… uncooperative. Hn, and he was supposed to be the stubborn one. Why the heck did this have to be? Fear crossed Kurama's eyes again and he trembled violently, arousing a few hoarse coughs, which left him gasping for his already shortened breath. Kurama was too sick to be stressed like this, Hiei knew that. But for the millionth time, HE DID NOT CARE! He growled angrily glaring straight into Kurama's eyes before storming out of the room.

Kurama sat in his bed staring down at his plate after Hiei left. His trembles and coughs failed to cease, but he seemed to care less. His crimson locks did have a slight droop to them, and he looked more disheartened then he had in ages. Why did he always have to be so fearful? It wasn't like the people he looked at around him were all traitors. Merely, it was a stupid, stupid fear. At the same time, though, he couldn't help it. He always had to be the unfortunate one, didn't he? He bit his lip and stared down at his hands, clenching the sheets tightly below as he tried will away his trembles.

Hiei, as he was storming angrily, was stopped by the doctor, Takanaka-san. Hiei glared, but the doctor obviously wanted to talk, opening his mouth to give Hiei information.

"Your friend is recovering, I see you notice but there are still important manners we must discuss in correlation to his health. I don't know why, but he'd been weakened to a great point over this illness. What makes it so strange is that this sort of weakness usually doesn't appear in young people, just in older folks and young infants. I must say, although he'll be well enough to leave the hospital near the end of the week; his immune system will take longer to recover from this, and for the time being, he will be highly susceptible to other illnesses. I advise when he does go home though, you make sure he gets better quick, isolation from other people, and some bed rest will help mostly." The doctor paused for a minute, and Hiei was ready to head off. But as it seemed, the doctor still needed to finish.

"I also recommend your friend go see a psychiatrist. He seems to be extremely phobic, and I believe seeing one would help with it. Well, best of luck, Hiei." With that, he handed a piece of paper and bid him farewell. Hiei stared at the names of the dumb psychiatrists. As soon as he was far enough away for the hospital, he cast it away as well. What an idiotic doctor… He sat on a tree branch twenty feet up from the ground, glaring angrily at the sky. It seemed as if he wanted it to cower in that intimidating look of utter loathing and fury. Hiei growled and swore to himself. What the hell was he to do about this.

Back in Spirit World, Koenma and Botan sat and watched Hiei's ongoing fury towards Kurama. The ferry girl looked horror struck, while the toddler, who had seen this many times in the past few days just sat back it the chair with a mixed expression of frustration, disbelief and laziness. He sighed deeply. "Koenma-sama?" Asked the blue haired ferry girl.

"Are you sure that they can ever get past this? Look at the; they really don't get along now, do they?" The prince sighed and bowed his head for a minute to think.

"I do believe Hiei is the only one who is able to break through to Kurama. He'll learn in time how, but I still believe he is the only one. Otherwise, I wouldn't have chosen him. Kurama wouldn't be able to deal with another person if they were kind like Hikaru. Let's just be faithful for the time being. This village will not be able to be saved unless Kurama comes around and can become friends, or at least partners with Hiei." The little boy's voice betrayed him, for if you listened to the tone of voice, you could tell he was just as unfaithful as Botan was.

"But Koenma-sama, he won't trust anyone, will he? He certainly hasn't trusted in after Hikaru. I mean, you haven't even told him the truth about Hikaru yet."

"Yet another thing we need to be patient with. I'd like to say if we told him Kurama would be able to protect this village right now, but it is simply too much. We do not know how Kurama will react to that piece of news, so we need to wait until we see he can be trusted again. For now, Kurama's presence in the village, knowing his reputation is enough to keep demons away, but they get braver as time passes, as all demons do, I just hope before the demons decide to attack again, Hiei will break through to Kurama." Botan sighed and continued to look up at the TV screen.

A rain began to fall, a few drops hit Hiei's face and he growled up at the sky, wishing it for to stop. Rather than taking his silent orders, the sky seemed as if it was in a mood to make the fire demon angrier still. A lightening bolt streaked through the sky and it began pouring harder, begging to soak through his cloak immediately. He growled and ran towards the hospital again for his regular second visit of the day. He hoped to god that Kurama was asleep so that Hiei could just sit by his bedside without being angered. It was still early, and he saw Kurama didn't fall asleep early, seeing as all the times he visited Kurama was awake, no matter how late. Well, it would be a good excuse to get out of this damn rain at least.

To his luck, when he reached the hospital, Kurama was asleep, so he sat down and looked at the silent fox. He was still dripping wet, and it wasn't something he appreciated, he wondered if he should just allow himself to dry off. Being a fire demon, he could easily tell how far his body temperature went, and could use that power to dry his clothes. He wondered if he should do it, if the doctors saw him, they would surely ask questions. Yet another thing he hated, when people asked questions. Ah, screw it, with a quick flare of his ki, his clothes dried, leaving him dry and in a considerably happier mood. He went to watching Kurama sleep. He surprisingly, looked more peaceful when he was asleep. He wasn't all tense from fear and Hiei could almost describe the state as beautifully, practically angelic. Keyword: ALMOST. It didn't seem to last long, though, the fox was suddenly tossing about crying different things softly, in a terror filled voice of hopelessness. "Hikaru…" he whispered weakly. Something wet was running down Kurama's cheeks, and it took a minute for it to register with Hiei that they were tears. How pathetic. He was crying. Hiei sighed watching the thin boy tossing and turning in his sleep as he thought about the annoying situations at hand.

After a few minutes, though the fox screamed silently, tears streamed harder down his cheeks, as he tossed towards Hiei's direction, Hiei could tell, that even if Kurama's eyes were closed he was scared. Damn fox couldn't shut up. He put a strong hand on his shoulder, intending to shake him roughly in hopes of waking the boy up. Kurama, though, relaxed slightly under Hiei's hand. Hiei only looked confused, left to ponder on his actions.

Well, there we go. Yet another chapter finished that I hope you liked. I do have one thing to say, on the thirty-first, I will be away at Camp Kema for a while, and will not be able to update. Although I will be gone for only a week, I don't think I will update until the weekend AFTER I get back. I promise you though; I will try my best to get in two more updates after this one. I wanted you guys to know as soon as possible since I will be in the middle of nowhere and as such, will be unable to access the internet. Keep reviewing guys! I love them, you know.


	7. Chapter 7

**_Enemies from the start, lovers until the end_**

Well, here I am again, another update all ready for you liking. Shall I say, I do not, will never, haven't ever owned Yuu Yuu Hakusho in any way, shape, or form. All credit goes to Togashi-san whose creative ability would be greatly missed if we had to live with out it. I praise his for his creation of Kurama, Hiei, and the rest of the Yuu Yuu Hakusho stuff. I also advise those who are not into the yaoi thing, or have some type of disorder that gives seizures when you read it, to run for their lives. As I said in previous chapters, you are not being forced to read it, and flames simply because you did not take your time to read the warning or the summary are not wanted. Remember people. In this story, Kurama and Hiei are a couple. Yes, they love each other and later on I must give advisory for kiss scenes, ect.

**To the people who reviewed:**

**Evene**

Hmm, I like being in the middle of nowhere, aside from the fact that there's no computer, of course. The air's fresher, it gets colder at night, and you can actually see stars(Yeah, I live by the city, so seeing stars is a luxury for me. I like that word, big bad TV, has a nice ring to it, lol. I have more planned with Hikaru in the future, so I will be giving more information every once in a while. As for Kuwabara and Yuusuke, I don't think they'll be appearing in the story much, accounting since I did kill them off. Don't kill me for it, I just have a tendency to kill of characters, even if I like them, which I do like Yuusuke and Kuwabara. Arigatou goazimasu for your review.

**Lol**

I like doing updates faster, so I will try and do that more often. Still stinks though, I bet that later on I'll get a bad bout of writer's block, it seems like almost everyone does at one point or another. Hey, it's happened to me before, and it's no fun! Thanks for reviewing.

**Kuranga108**

Yeah, Koenma knows pretty much everything in general. I supposed that I'd make him like that since he was the ruler of spirit world and he's supposed to know a lot. I do hope that I'm not making my chapters too boring, but I'm still glad that you liked it. Thank you for reviewing!

**Kari Ishikawa**

Yes, yes. As I have said many times before, oh poor, poor, Kurama. I still feel bad about putting him through so much torment. I bet he'd hate me in real life for that. Yeah, I'm sorry about the Yuusuke and Kuwabara thing. I swear, I don't have anything against the two. Killing characters is just a horribly bad habit of mine. Hmm, let me see that. H my god, thank you so much for correcting me, anthrohobia is NOT the correct term, I can't believe I've been spelling it wrong, it's really, anthropophobia. Well, My spell checker still spells it wrong, but I'm going to have to and correct all my chapters. THANK YOU!

**Black Rose Vixen05**

Well, I'm glad that you liked it. Does it really keep getting better and better? Well, thank you for your kind review.

**Mouko Mizaki**

Glad you liked it, now I shall write! Thank you for reviewing again!

**Aya**

Yes! Behold the feminine Kurama! Muhaha! I do like the feminine Kurama a lot though. No, not to the pint where he's wearing dresses, lol. I'm glad you liked it, and thank you so much for your review.

Blueeyedchibi I'm glad that you like it, and thank you for the review. I'm glad that you think I'm doing well with Hiei's personality, since I don't like to do them out of character too much. 

Please read and review! It is greatly appreciated.

Note: Any information given in this chapter about the cures related to anthropophobia, rather than the name ant the basis of my knowledge of phobias, goes unchecked, rather. I merely based it off how you cure other phobias; if anyone finds a piece of information in here that they find incorrect about the phobia and/or psychology, feel free to correct me.

**_Chapter Seven_**

* * *

**__**

Hiei sat in Kurama's room yet again, choosing to remain silent. Although Kurama was not being yelled at as often by Hiei, he still cowered slightly whenever Hiei chose to enter. This had been the two week marker to when Hiei had first taken Kurama to the hospital, and much to Hiei's disgust, he'd came and visited every day since then. According to Botan, he wasn't going to be able to make friends with Kurama unless he spent a lot of time with him, and as much as Hiei detested it, that was his only way of going to jail. Either way, Hiei saw that even if he managed to earn this fox's trust, he didn't have to really like Kurama. After all, he'd never had any friends, and as he claimed, he'd never need any either. 'Loner' was a term fit only for this demon, and as he gazed out the window, he thought back to when he had spoke with Botan last; which happened to have been just a little bit before he made his regular visit to Kurama in the hospital that day.

_"Hello, Hiei!" said a jovial girl with blissful pink eyes._

"_How's Kurama been doing? I heard he's in the hospital." Hiei sighed at the irritating, annoyance of a ferry girl. If it wasn't Kurama, it was someone else getting on his nerves. Would he ever find peace again, or would he just be stuck as Koenma's lackey for centuries, carrying on his every will and whim? He reconsidered jail for a moment at that thought, but thought better of it and decided to finally answer Botan's question._

"_He is fine, but I do believe you should help me do SOMETHING about his little fears." He growled, in an almost sarcastic tone. He knew that Botan knew well enough of Kurama's phobia, and he was beginning to anger with the constant burden of having to find a way to do the task himself. Botan backed away slightly the tone of his voice, but the happy-go-lucky smile still remained on her features._

"_I can't, you need to figure a way to do it yourself." Botan replied simply. His face reddened slightly in anger and he took a menacing step toward the girl, who took it as a threat and summoned her oar, hopping onto it quickly._

"_A-ano I must be getting back to the Spirit World now, you know lots of um… Spirit World things must be done. See you, Hiei." She flew away quickly Hiei glaring angrily at her from behind, just daring her to come back. _

Hiei sighed. It was getting more frustrated. He swore, if this boy would talk as soon as he asked him now, he'd promise that he'd never think a bad thing about the boy again. So he pressed his temper to see if he would be rewarded with answers, hoping it wouldn't end up like his already numerously failed attempts.

"Kurama…" The voice only made the boy tremble and scoot a little farther away. Hiei suppressed the growing rage, still in the hopes of being rewarded.

"Listen, I want to know why you're so afraid. Please, I can't help until I know, fox." Kurama, who was about to open his mouth to speak, closed it suddenly with the mention of that one nickname. He glanced down at his hands and shuddered.

"There is n-nothing to talk abo-out." He said, his voice wavering as if he was on the edge of breaking down right there. With that, he stared down to his lap and moved farther away from Hiei. This only brought Hiei's anger up to a boiling point; he'd been short tempered as it was nowadays. He grabbed Kurama roughly again, forcing Kurama to look at him; Kurama struggled to avert his gaze from the furious crimson eyes.

"Listen, you! Why the hell won't you talk about it to anyone? What do you want to do, die?" Kurama looked down; slightly limp under Hiei's death grip. Vaguely, Hiei heard Kurama mummer something softly under his breath in response to Hiei's previous question.

"Maybe I do.." Hiei growled, tightening his grip and pulling him closer so Kurama might get his point better.

"Damn you, you're so pathetic. I wonder what type of parents would raise a child like that? I mean, look at you, the great Youko, the infamous the stooped down to this level, you must be insane!" Hiei had obviously touched upon another sensitive subject, for Kurama winced and turned his head away from Hiei's screams, trying his hardest to keep the tears from falling.

"I hate you." He growled. Hiei threw Kurama down hard on the bed, leaving the room once again in an angry mess. Kurama blinked sadly, rubbing his sore arm that Hiei had grabbed much too forcefully for comfort. Why did Hiei run around asking him this all the time, he surely didn't have to know. Kurama had concluded a long time ago Hiei was working for Karasu; there was nothing else to it. Why, he yelled, screamed, and had practically no regard towards Kurama in any way, he had to be a servant of Karasu. But wait; truly, all people regarded him as lowly, didn't they? Not just servants of Karasu, all people were traitors, and no matter how much they claimed to be on the side of good, they were truly just cruel on the inside. Then what was good? Was there such a thing? He thought back to his parents, of course there were, his parents were good, weren't they? Then he remembered something Karasu had said.

"_Your own parents sold you out. Otherwise, how do you think I would have found you so easily?" _

Kurama had protested to that so many times, it wasn't even funny. His only defense, however, was that his parents loved him, and that they would never do such things. But it slowly had slipped from his mind with numerous beatings from Karasu, whispering the thought over and over as the let his chosen weapon tear Kurama apart. Afterwards, he didn't know what was reality anymore. He sighed and gazed out the window. Why did people have to be so pitiless?

Hiei went to talk to the doctor again before he left, it had become a habit before long, and he knew if he neglected to come see the doctor that day, the doctor would come to him. He greeted him and gazed expectantly, waiting for him to speak.

"Oh, Hiei, I'm glad I caught you before you left, there's some good news I need to share with you. Kurama is well enough to go home today, you can take him right now if you want. He'll need much medicine and bed rest before he'll make a full recovery, and I advise him not to waste his energy once he gets home, a little walking for now is fine, but he's weak and it won't be wise to weaken himself even further than necessary with things suck as walking." He handed Hiei a bottle of prescription pills, guiding him into the room where Kurama dwelled. Kurama, being fearful as he was, backed away as they entered, squeezing his eyes shut in fear.

"Kurama, you're able to leave the hospital now. I've given Hiei what you need, and a nurse will be by in a minute to help you, best of luck." Kurama gazed fearfully up at the voice and backed away a little. The doctor only smiled.

"Normally, I'd see you off, but seeing as I have patients that need help now, I am unable. I just want to wish you the best of recovery." Kurama nodded quickly when he left, eyeing Hiei carefully as he sat down.

A nurse entered a few minutes later, carefully approaching Kurama as if he was some wild animal she didn't want to scare away, rather, catch the imaginary animal she was coaxing out of the shadows. Kurama only moved back slightly, remaining frozen as she slowly approached and took his left arm in hand. He flinched, and she clicked her tongue in a somewhat comforting manner, this didn't seem to help the fox at all. With one quick tug, his IV needle came free of his arm, one of the last things tying him down to this hospital bed, she allowed Kurama to go change quickly in the room's bathroom, and then bid her farewells to Hiei. "You've got a wonderful friend Hiei, take care, the both of you." She made another excuse about running off to tend to another patient, Hiei was beginning to get the idea they only wanted to be rid of Kurama. Yet he didn't mention anything, he merely picked up the protesting fox and ran as fast as he could from the hospital.

Wind whipped past them as they flew quickly through the air, Kurama was trembling horribly, and trying with his weakened might, to escape Hiei's clutches. These attempts, being pretty strong despite Kurama's weakness, caused Hiei to tighten his grip on Kurama, so as not to drop the boy. Still, he could hear the boy wince audibly and continue to tremble and squirm. Yet again, Hiei reminded himself how idiotic this boy was, and how pathetic he could be. It was hard to believe this boy, was the reincarnation of the demon thief; Youko, he'd been told this by Botan. Yes, Youko hade quite a reputation a few years back. He's been one of the most alluringly dangerous and beautiful demons in all of Makai. Even throughout the entire fox demon race, who were known for their beauty, he was- had always been, the most beautiful, no doubt about it. Yet along with that beauty came a wrath almost unsuited for a figure such as him. He was dangerous, cruel, and ruthless, not to mention, an infamous thief. It was unbelievable that he was now an anthropophobic little coward.

He released Kurama when they reached his front door, and quickly handed him the medicine the doctor had prescribed. He took the orange cylinder from Hiei and ran into his house quickly, Hiei recognized the audible click of a lock behind him, and he smirked. At least this fox had some common sense, he'd grant the boy that.

Well, on to other things now. Botan had hinted him a while back; he might find help with people who knew more about the subject. His first thought had been a psychiatrist, but knowing Kurama, he wouldn't go anywhere near one. Maybe he could find some answers in a book or something. At least books were trustworthier than humans, which he hated to ask for help unless he couldn't avoid it. Even then, he didn't think if he ended up in a situation like that, which he never had so far, he would go and ask any human for help. Ah! There was a library, right there. Odd, this town didn't have their own doctor's office and they had such a larger library. Well, at least he'd have the fraction of a chance of finding the book he was looking for, since smaller libraries often didn't have books on the broader subject of psychology.

He was glad he wasn't greeted by anyone when he first walked through the doors, it had been irritating for people to do so in the first place, but he was left undisturbed as he walked silently through the rows of books. He smirked as he found what he was looking for; it was as if by chance both were next to each other. The two book titles read "The basics of psychology, talking, diagnosing, and curing" the book next to it read

"Antropophobia: the diagnostics and cures" Well, that was certainly what he was looking for, no doubt about it. He quickly took the books over to a secluded spot where he could read without being disturbed by annoying humans. He found useful passages to read in both of them and began reading quickly, crimson orbs darting back and forth through the pages.

"Psychology is a subject that a great deal of patience and kindness…" Hiei scowled, he already didn't like the sound of it. He read on still, another passage intrigued him after thirty pages of monotonous reading.

"Getting a patient to talk isn't always as easy as you may be thinking. Some common techniques, though, are slowly easing into the subject, and bringing up interesting subjects that might interest the person you're trying to talk to. Remember, though, often, the sentence 'We need to talk' often doesn't work with depressed patients, or ones that have certain fears about what it is you want to talk to them. It always helps to ask, once into the subject you wished to talk about, to make sure said patient's still comfortable with talking about the subject. If not, let the patient go and bring it up another time." Hiei actually looked surprised, from what it said here, he had been doing everything wrong. He snorted. Well, maybe he'd try it, but his method was still much better.

Within an hour, Hiei had finished the first book and had already fully immersed himself in the second book that he had picked out. He growled at the pages as he read.

"Anthropophobia, is a particularly hard thing to help with, but is usually easy to diagnose. However, in order for this fear to be pronounced as a phobia, it must be irrational, like all other fears, and it must impede with daily life. An example would be a person avoiding a festival which they love dearly, just because there will be other people there. Anthrophobic patients will shut themselves away from family, and have no friends because of this fear." Hiei read on, and although the book blared on about the causes and effects of this phobia, never once did it talk of a cure. At the very end, it did speak of it slightly, but not as much as Hiei had hoped, leaving him just as frustrated before.

"Anthropophobia, as mentioned in the beginning, is an extremely difficult condition to treat, and often, had more of a bad ending then a good one. One of the ways most common to use, is 'flooding' or exposing that person to what they fear as much as possible, if their phobia is strong, and cannot be gotten rid of by those means, more patient measures should be taken. There is no guaranteed cure, and many methods may be used. Effectiveness of treatments given always corresponds with what the patient can handle, and what they can't. A particularly useful method for the person more timid is the use of slowly exposing the person to other people, easing them out of the fear slowly rather then at the same time like the flooding method attempts. Still, it must be noted, true antropophobia is rare; accounting the few rare cases are often traumatized severely by many, and taught not to trust, victims of torture, neglect, abuse, ect. are often involved in this category." Hiei only sighed. This was going to be such an annoying task; at least these books gave him the idea. But still, he wasn't a psychologist, this patience he was required to have didn't exist, and above all, Hiei couldn't care less about this stupid phobia Kurama had.

Well, mind as well try at least, it wasn't doing him any good just sitting here, and the sooner he could stop seeing that pathetic fox tremble like a coward, the better. He walked out of the library and glared up at the night sky. It actually surprised Hiei, it wasn't raining and it was quite… peaceful. Many stars glistened up above and a cool mountain breeze rustled through the grass. Too bad Hiei didn't have any appreciation for such beauty; otherwise, his bad mood would have surely been uplifted. He barely noticed Kurama as he walked up onto the porch. That was a mistake.

Hiei immediately tripped over the unsuspecting fox's leg and fell down with a thump in his lap. Kurama, who had been meditating, screamed and scattered off in the bushed, not noticing Hiei's head colliding rather painfully with the wood on the porch as he bolted up. Hiei was left laying on the porch, head throbbing and eyes fixed in a glare. The other boy only withdrew further and gave a soft whimper, backing farther into the bushes despite the sharp thorns tearing at his skin, painfully.

The Jaganshi got up, glowering. Why, he'd beat that stupid fox to a pulp for that! He clenched his fists tighter despite, but remembered something the book said. Yelling wouldn't make sense. God then what would? Talking wouldn't help; Kurama was much too scared to listen. This stunk. Maybe he could try what the book said. Who knows, maybe it would actually work. But then again, maybe not. Ah, hell with it. He walked to the bush and kept his voice calm and level. Although it was nowhere near kind and concerned, it sufficed as something better than the usual tone.

"Listen, Kurama, come out, I just want to talk." Kurama only blinked, but did not back away, a visible tremor still running through his body. Hiei pretended not to notice, and focused on something else as he tried to get Kurama to talk. Kurama reacted to Hiei's a minute later, by blinking and shaking his head tentatively. He backed away a little, but Hiei did not grab for him like usual. Hiei decided against this kind measure the book had mentioned, but decided to try something else.

"Fine! I'm not leaving until you come out and say something!" His voce was still distant, but not too cruel. Kurama back away a little and gave a slight cry of pain as he caught himself on a branch of long thorns that was hanging down. Hiei only sat next to the bush, ready to grab Kurama when he decided it fit to come out; he'd stay there all night if he had too.

What seemed like hours later, he stared into the bush again. Kurama lay on his side, thorns caught in his shirt and eyes half-closed. He looked almost pitiable, but Hiei thought better of it. Well, at least he had stopped trembling. Or… was that just because the trembles had given way to violent shivers. Hiei never had minded the cold, being a fire demon, but it seemed as if Kurama did. Kurama was curled up in a small ball in an attempt to get warm in the cold. Looking at what the boy was wearing, it was no wonder, it was so cold, it couldn't be very much warmer than a few degrees above freezing. Hmm, maybe Kurama would trust him more if he let Kurama use his cloak. That trust was damn hard enough to earn it already, maybe this would work. Silently, he slipped off the small cloak he was wearing and crawled into the bush, draping the black material over Kurama's body. Kurama looked up, eyes still filled with fear. Darn, if this didn't work, what would. However, the redhead did manage to speak out.

"T-thanks." Kurama whispered between a few shivers. He paused for a moment to shift away from Hiei, and then continued in a soft voice, as if he would be beaten for what he said

"Someone has you bound to me, against your will, am I right?" Damn fox was too perceptive for his own good.

"Hn. Why the hell would you think that?" Hiei was sure he saw an intelligent smile flicker for a fraction of a second, but he blinked and rubbed his eyes, deciding it had just been a figment of his imagination. From the first time Hiei had ever seen him, Kurama never had smiled before, and that was an understatement. By the way he looked, someone had just died, you'd think. It was stupid, really, and Hiei felt it was even stupider being under this bush, but with the threat of four hundred years in Rekai jail looming over, he chose to remain here. Kurama shifted farther away uncomfortably, suddenly bringing to Hiei's attention he was bleeding.

"Kurama," he said, pointing at the bleeding cuts thorns had created. A little bit of blood dripped from the side of Kurama's face onto the ground with a soft plip. He sighed and shook his head.

"It's nothing…" he said, voice trailing off. _Nothing, nothing, nothing!_ God, Hiei was sick of the word. You could tell he was fighting back trembles. Why did Hiei remind him so much of Hikaru. He was nothing like Hikaru, and even if he was, what did Hikaru have to do with it? He choked back a sob; Hikaru was still a painful though. He immediately crawled out of the bush, away from Hiei. Hiei growled and fought with his anger as he followed Kurama to his door. Kurama opened his door, but was stopped by Hiei as he went to close the door. Hiei glared, emerald orbs widened in familiar fear, he struggled to close the door and Hiei smirked, merely holding it open with two hands against it. The fox only ran, he dropped Hiei's cloak at his feet and shot away from Hiei almost faster than the eye could follow, Hiei followed close behind and watched as he ran into the forest, concealing himself up a tree.

Hiei leapt up to Kurama's tree branch with ease and scrutinized the fox's expression, as if to try and find out some sort of secret concealed to him. Kurama backed away, eyes widening again. "Please… no closer." Kurama felt the branch buckle slightly under the two boys' weight. This branch was much to frail to be sitting on, even if both Kurama and Hiei were very lightweight. Hiei glared. How could one boy annoy him so much? Kurama had done nothing to anger him, yet Hiei still held a sort of grudge against him. Even Hiei, himself found that intriguing. Emerald eyes stared back at Hiei in fear and desperation. He had to admit those eyes were rather pretty…

WAIT! What was he thinking? Mentally, he scolded himself for thinking such things; he was caught off guard and jolted back to the real world as the branch cracked all the way, both boys fell fifteen feet to the hard ground. Hiei groaned as Kurama jolted far away, limping slightly on his right leg. "KURAMA YOU COWARD!" Hiei called after him. Kurama said nothing, but continued to run. Damn it, this wasn't good. Kurama had just gotten out of the hospital hours before; Hiei didn't want to have to make another trip there. If Kurama kept up, he'd be in the hospital for a whole month!

Meanwhile, two figures stood on the edge of a cliff, overlooking town. The first figure smirked. "Just you wait Youko Kurama, we know you're here, and when we find you, you will wish that you were never born. And once you're out of the way…" The second shadowy figure continued in a cold voice.

"We will take this town as ours, soon, the Human Realm will fall."

* * *

Me: Yes, I am done. But I am happy, although nothing happened I was able to get in a longer chapter, and plus. Now I can write more exciting chapters. Hmm, I hope that this story isn't too boring, because I don't want to be a bore to anyone. As always, you were very nice, taking the time to read. I'd appreciate you a million times more if you reviewed. I want to know if you're having fun reading of if it's just a bore. Hey, I'm always open to suggestions or constructive criticism, so feel free telling me what I can do better. Yaoi haters, that doesn't mean I want a flame on the yaoi. Hmm, seems as if Hiei's fallen for Kurama somewhat. I love to write about Hiei crushes because he's usually in an amusing state of denial over his feelings, despite the many thoughts going through his head that could prove otherwise.

Well, I suppose this will be my last chapter before I leave, I at least had to get one good one up for you guys before that. It was probably time I shouldd've spent packing, but oh well, I pack at last minute almost every year, and I swear, this year, I'm packing light! Well, I hope you gus enjoyed this chapter, seeing as I put a lot of though and time into it. Next time, Hiei might just force Kurama to go to a town festival, if he's well enough, that is.

Read and review, onegai!


	8. Chapter 8

_**Enemies from the start, lovers until the end**_

Well, here I am, updating again. Sorrythat it took so long, counting that I went to camp. For all you lawyers out there, don't you DARE think about suing me, I am saying right here, right now, that Yuu Yuu Hakusho does not belong to me in any way, shape or form.

Warning: Yaoi here, yes…. YAOI Now please, if you happen to be a hater, don't waster your time in reading, and/or flaming the story. I highly respect your view on the relationships of certain characters, and I am asking you kindly, to please respect mine. Angst, being angst, is here as well, and although I know most people aren't bothered by it, you shouldn't read if you don't like it.

**To my reviewers:**

**Lol **

I can relate to you on getting bored waiting for an update. That happens to me a lot, and therefore, I always try and get my updates up as fast as possible. As for your question, I guess I can tell you Hiei will find out a little more about Kurama in this chapter. Not everything, mind you. Thanks for reviewing!

**HieiAndSess'sBabyGirl**

I appreciate your advice, and definitely, I don't mind what you're saying, it's honesty about what's actually wrong with what I'm doing, not a flame saying my story's a piece of shit because it's yaoi. I see the sentence thing you're getting at, my friend, who also happens to be a writer, says I use too many commas and not enough periods. Translation, my sentences DO drag on too much. It's a really bad habit I'm trying to correct. My wording…. Well yes, I do agree I use rather strange wording at times, which is another thing I must go fix. I thank you greatly for the advice, and taking what you said into mind, I will try to improve my writing as best as I can.

**Evene**

Thanks for reviewing again! I do want to do a festival, but I'm not sure if I fit it in well. Cotton candy, sounds like a funny, bit bad idea at the same time. Why? Let's just say Hiei plus a boatload of sugar usually doesn't produce good results, although it's quite an amusing one. It sounds cool that you get to live where there are stars, nut the airport thing sounds extremely annoying.

**Anna**

Thank you for you three kind reviews, I'm glad that you like it so much.

**Kuranga108**

Yeah, it is. Hiei isn't very good at being nice a lot, is he? Yes, he is getting somewhere with Kurama. His previous trembles have been replaced with words. I hate grammar… that is why I'll have to read this chapter over three times before I post it. Usually the one time isn't good enough for me, and although I use proper grammar in speech, I still suck at it when it comes to writing. Stupid English language, too many rules and exceptions to follow. Thanks for your consistent reviews!

**Iggy - illmatiq shorty**

Hmm, glad you like it! As for Kurama ticking you off, I think he is for everyone. Thanks for reviewing!

**Shiorifoxiesmom**

Yay! I'm so glad that you like it!Well, there wasn't a computer where I was, although I was practically being taunted because all the counselors had laptops x.x I really can't live without my compy too long, can I? Thank you so much for reviewing.

_**Chapter eight**_

Hiei wandered through the forest, searching through the tress, livid as of now. Where had Kurama gone? He'd been just a few feet away ten minutes ago and now Hiei could find no trace of him. Hiei had already gone back to Kurama's house a few minutes ago, there was no sign of him there either. Personally, he knew since he searched under everything, bed table, even under the small gap under the couch. He was reminded, however, that he had been the one to scare him away in the first place. Damn it, who was he kidding, this was practically impossible. How was he even supposed to earn the trust of somebody wouldn't even let one person near them. He glared up at the night sky, as if to ask it if it had seen Kurama. Nothing.

At that, he went deeper into the forest in hopes of finding Kurama there, and surprisingly, was rewarded for it. Soft panting met his ears and he was faced with the redhead, sprawled out on the ground a shivering violently. Kurama turned his gaze to Hiei, who took a careful step towards him. Luckily for Hiei, the boy was too weak to move, and it proved easy for him to scoop him up in his arms. A few strands of crimson locks fell from Kurama's view, and he tried hard to struggle as best he could. He continued to walk, holding the fox tightly in his grasp so he wouldn't escape.

Within minutes, they reached the house again, and Hiei opened the door and closed it. Kurama struggled harder yet, but still, Hiei kept his grip tight until they reached Kurama's bedroom. He dumped Kurama there and went to retrieve a chair for himself, hoping Kurama wouldn't try to run again. After doing so, he brought the chair in and sat next to Kurama's beside. Kurama had buried himself in the blankets and was laying with his back turned to Hiei.

"Listen, fox," Hiei began. Kurama cringed away, at least that was a sign that he heard him. Either way, Hiei only gave up and let loose an irritated sigh. Gosh, this was going to be a lot harder than he had first assumed. Weren't people supposed to be at least a little bit easier to be friend that this? He stood up, taking a break from Kurama's presence in mind.

"I'm making you something to eat. Is there anything in particular you want?" He waited for a reply. Anything was better than being here with Kurama, and at least it was something that might coax the boy away from his fears. Scratch that, it was possible Kurama would refuse to eat it. Otherwise, why would he be so thin? After Kurama shook his head in the designated answer 'No' Hiei left to go search the pantry for something suitable for Kurama to eat in his current condition.

A few minutes later, after rummaging through the pantry, Hiei found was only able to find two suitable items of food. Bar out the other ones, counting since the after affects of the illness wouldn't allow him to eat a large variety of foods. He grabbed a can of cream of potato soup and a bowl of leftover white rice sitting in a small fridge next to the pantry. While setting the soup on the stove to heat, he slipped the rice into the microwave to reheat. Hiei sighed as he stirred the soup for a few minutes. He felt like some kind of maid doing all this, and he swore, that if Kurama didn't improve in a week, he'd screw what Koenma said, strangle the boy, and probably get sent to Spirit World jail even longer for 'murdering the innocent human'. Yeah, like that was true. As innocent as Kurama seemed, he was still reminded that this boy WAS Youko Kurama. And despite the fact that he was a mere reincarnation who held no memory of his past life, he still had a score to settle with this fox, and if Kurama pushed him to his limits, he would remember to yell at him for that as well. Scooping the soup into a bowl carefully and put it on a tray, soon joined by the bowl of rice. He then carried it to Kurama's room and sat down on his bed, offering the tray to the fox.

What he expected happened. Kurama took the tray softly when offered it, but he didn't eat it, a suspicious eye was fixed on it instead. Hiei growled and whispered dangerously. "It isn't poisoned, but if you rather, I could shove the food down your throat instead." Kurama's jade orbs widened in fear at Hiei's angry, serious tone. Still, he debated upon it.

"Do you realize, that if I had any wishes of killing you, your death would be much more painful then that of a simple poison? I am not taking no for an answer Kurama, you're going to eat that food, whether you are willing to or not." Kurama, in hearing this, took a small, tentative spoonful of the soup, keeping the emerald eyes fixed on Hiei, as if he expected him to take that katana of his at that very moment and slice his head off. Hiei sat there to make sure he finished, although he did find it rather odd he stared while the fox ate, Kurama seemed intimidated by it, there was no kindness to be seen in that cold stare. So, he focused himself on eating instead of bringing his gaze to meet Hiei's. Kurama stayed silent, but continued to eat the soup in small spoonfuls, He had to admit, this soup wasn't half that bad, by standards of hospital foods, even if he had only eaten enough to survive on during his stay there. Eventually, he moved onto the rice, slowly bringing his gaze up to meet Hiei's. Yep, he was still glaring as coldly as ever, the look sent shivers down his spine, as if daring him to meet eyes again with him. Kurama finished the rice quickly and hurried to get the bowls into the kitchen. Hiei grabbed Kurama's wrist, stopping him short of this task. A soft hiss escaped the Hiei's lips and another intense glare was fixed on the human before said youkai.

"Hn. What do you think you're doing? You need rest, I can't afford for you to get sick again." Kurama trembled, but with a sudden memory rush gave him the strength to kick Hiei hard in the knees and swiftly escape the grip. Hiei growled as Kurama ran from the room, tray in hand. What a stupid fox, where the heck had he learned that? Without thought, he ran and caught Kurama again, both arms wrapped around the struggling creatures torso. Kurama was still seemingly full of surprises. He spun around in an odd sort of way, kicked Hiei in the shins, and succeeded in escaping his grip once more. Hiei managed to corner the fearful fox, though, grabbing his shoulders pinned the weakened boy against the wall. Having used up what little energy he had at the time, Kurama found his current struggles to be in vain. Hiei merely glared and held Kurama tightly until the squirming stopped and Kurama fearfully brought his gaze up to Hiei's.

"Kurama, why do you choose to just ignore me? If you haven't noticed, I'm trying to help, not kill you. Why won't you just simply lay in bed and let someone take care or you? Most of all, why the heck do you cringe away from any signs of a person. It isn't like they can all hurt you." Hiei said this all very fast, echoing on the anger and exasperation he'd encountered these past few weeks. Kurama averted his gaze, almost as if he felt guilty, Hiei knew better. Kurama slowly forced himself to stay calm and opened his mouth to speak.

"It's just that I-I…." His voice trailed off, as the sad look in his eye was shadowed by the mass of crimson bangs. What he said next was in barely a whisper, a tone so soft that Hiei had to strain his ears to hear.

"I'm sorry…" The tone echoed all of Kurama's sadness, fatigue, but most of all shamefulness. His voice was racked with guilt so deep; you would've though he had been caught doing crimes unspeakable. Hiei almost regretted asking all these questions. Kurama sounded really sad. The thought was brushed from his mind a minute later and he sighed, loosening his grip slightly on Kurama. With that the redhead turned to head for his room, shutting the door behind him and sitting against the door to think. Hiei looked almost regretful at this and went up to the closed door, sitting up against it as well. Vaguely, he could hear Kurama crying softly from inside. Hiei decided speak up, impatience in his tone.

"Kurama, you're a demon, don't be so pathetic as to cry." The tone was nowhere near comforting to Kurama. He still cried softly, drawing away from the voice coming from behind the door where he sat. Hiei again, attempted to calm the lamenting fox down.

"Maybe you could talk about it?" Hiei suggested. Kurama remained silent and stared quietly down at the floor before answering

"Why would you care? After all, you hate me." Kurama went back to crying as he waited for Hiei to answer.

"Hn. Just tell me why the hell you're so scared of everyone." Kurama paused to contemplate about it. There was an aching desire in his heart to get his feelings out, but was Hiei really the person to talk to? It wasn't like he'd provide much comfort, if any. Oh well, who else was there?

"Well…" he began

"When I was around twelve years old, my family was destroyed, not just them― my entire village. I was then taken to a demon by the name of Karasu. He was cruel beyond belief and I was kept there for three years. Only recently was I released from his keep." Kurama kept silently as Hiei took in what he said No wonder he was so scared, he'd hard of Karasu, his maniacal sadistic ways. He hardly doubted he'd be that fearful after three years of being stuck with the demon. Not that he would let himself stay stuck with him that long, he'd just chop Karasu's head and take his leave. They sat there for the longest time in silence wile Hiei still thought about what he had said. Tears had stopped a long time ago, and Hiei was glad for that. They easily annoyed him, and he couldn't deal with them as long as some people could He tried his luck, slowly opening the bedroom door, which to his better fortune, was unlocked.

The door collided with the sleeping figure of a redhead, who stirred slightly in his sleep, but was not woken by the bump of door on his back. At least he had gotten somewhere with Kurama now. He was as annoying as ever to Hiei, but at least he knew more things than he had before. Maybe, just maybe he could earn Kurama's trust. Hiei picked up the boy and carried him to the bed, setting him down and pulling the covers over. Something on the fox's arm caught the fire youkai's gaze. Gently, he lifted the wrist and took a closer look at it. A long, whip like car traveled from the wrist to the elbow, Kurama flinched away in his sleep momentarily. Judging by this scar, the experience in getting it must have been rather painful.

There was nothing better to do than stay here. He dragged up his chair and watched Kurama sleep, twisting around and moaning different things in his sleep. The sleep was so fitful; he must be having a horrid nightmare. Hiei shook Kurama by the shoulders, screaming his name to wake him. Kurama's emerald orbs snapped open and he shouted something along the lines of "NO WAY!" before pulling across the length of his mattress and trembling violently. It took him a few minutes to calm himself. Hiei didn't acknowledge Kurama's previous action, but gave a frustrated sigh at the break in silence. There he had gone, being stupid in waking Kurama up. Still, said boy seemed as if he had yet to notice the presence of the demon. He panted and trembled violently at noting, eyes glazed over as if in a daze. Hiei cocked his head at Kurama's actions, he should at least now know that it had all been a dream, but by the why he was acting, he still had yet to figure it out.

"Kurama?" asked Hiei tentatively. The boy jumped at the slightest sound of Hiei's voice, and he turned his sad confused gaze to the person who had just spoken his name. Hiei found it extremely ironic that Kurama's eyes seemed to copy the exact image of a lost puppy. Hiei decided now would be the time to get up and leave; perhaps he could find an excuse….

Oh yes! It was about time Kurama took that medicine. He got up and left the room as fast as he could. It was then he let out one of his newly trademarked, sigh, one chock full of annoyance and impatience. He went to the sink and filled a glass of water for Kurama, rummaging around in cabinets for the pills that had been prescribed. He found them in a small cabinet containing other things of the sort; the bottle was hidden behind a first aid kit and under a large bag of bandages and a thermometer. He retrieved the pills and headed back towards Kurama's room.

It was as he had predicted, Kurama was still tense, but at least he has calmed down somewhat, enough to at least except the pill from Hiei and swallow it so as not to anger the Jaganshi anymore than he had already. He scooted a little bit away from Hiei and took a few more sips of water. Hiei was the one to break the silence.

"You are improving in condition, I see." Said Hiei, surveying Kurama. "Would you like to take a walk outside, since you seem to enjoy that so much?" Hiei inquired. Kurama blinked and thought for a moment before asking

"Why are you concerned about my condition? If I remember correctly you were never quite eager about my condition. Am I not correct in saying that you merely remain here, is simply because you have no choice?" No doubt about it, that fox was sure intelligent. Hiei gave a Hn and watched as Kurama pulled himself up from bed,

"I suppose you want me to go on that walk now, right?" Hiei watched Kurama rise out of bed and grab a jacket from the closet and gave a satisfied nod. So… Kurama may be an annoying idiot, but at least he wasn't and annoying, AND arrogant, AND ignorant idiot. Those were the types of fools Hiei hated the most.

He followed Kurama to door, and slipped his boots on, watching Kurama take careful time to tie each lace on his sneaker carefully. Out the door they went, Kurama seemed refreshed by the fresh mountain-scented breeze that greeted their noses. He strolled almost happily down a small, dirt trail, Hiei following in his wake. Loud sounds met their ears, and Hiei blinked a confused manner. Kurama stopped when he got to the clearing. Many booths were set up, and a large banner looming in front read

"The town of Kirei no yama welcomes you!" Kurama groaned and muttered something under his breath that sounded like.

"How did I forget it was today?" He was about to turn around to leave, when Hiei grabbed his hand and glared at him, just daring the fox to go back. Kurama resorted to being dragged around by Hiei, while at the same time, attempting the inevitable― avoiding every single person who walked past them. He lightly trembled, trying to remain calm as he found himself fully immersed among what he feared most. Still, Kurama found it unavoidable to keep walking, Hiei's grip was like that of iron, and he felt that if he even attempted to escape, he would be faced with a wrath unexplainable.

Hiei forced Kurama to follow behind him; he knew that if he let his guard up, Kurama would escape. A chase didn't sound very inviting now, either way. The only reason he was staying at this stupid festival was simply because he wanted Kurama to get over this phobia. And that book had suggested that he should keep Kurama immersed in his fear to coax away the fear of the thing itself. This seemed like a good way, it was at least worth a shot. Anything to at least get rid of that annoying fear sounded inviting. He pulled Kurama, who seemed to be tired, over to the side to sit down for a while. Hiei was mindful to keep his eyes on Kurama at all times, his gaze ordering Kurama to stay in the designated spot.

Kurama glanced down at his lap. Why did he have to agree to that walk? If he had remembered, he could have at least avoided the place where the festival was. Unless, of course, Hiei had planned this from the start, that was a thought that made Kurama angry. Who was he to just barge into his life, scare him out of his mind, and act like he could change him? He'd been better off without Hiei's presence. Before Hiei came, Kurama had been a quite, inconspicuous boy who stayed away from the public.

The two demon figures stood on a rock overlooking the festival. The first one was a dark appearing shadow demon; the black in his eyes mimicked the midnight black hair, both of the features slightly intimidating. The look in his gaze was nerve wrecking for anyone, for all that filled his eyes was hatred, cruelty, and apathy. His clothes matched his personality, the dark black pants were slightly faded in some places, and in others, darkened surprisingly further by bloodstains. A blood red top, accented by black flames around the sleeves adorned his upper body. Even his weapons were intimidating… kusari-gama.(1) Chained and spiked jewelry accented his arms and neck. This demon went by the name of Shin (2)

The second demon was a water dragon from eastern Demon World, he looked not half as foreboding as the first. But we all know that looks can betray, he had an aura of extreme destruction, and cruelty more than three time larger than that of the first demon's, but as clothes masked this manner, he was more talented than anyone at masking his true nature. Baggy white pants and a azure top were pretty much his only attire, bar a black cord of a necklace connected to a sea-blue stone with the kanji for 'Mizu'(3) on. it He had a fair complexion, shoulder length blue hair, and the most stunning cerulean eyes anyone had ever seen in all three worlds. Blue dragon ears sprouted from the side of his head and a beautiful scaly blue tail flowed behind him. The black-clad demon spoke up "You are sure Youko Kurama will be there, Akushitsuko? (4)" The water dragon smirked.

"Yes, he is there. I clearly know that every single village resident is present at this festival. It is ironic, yet much in our favor, that the person we are looking for, goes by the name of 'Kurama.'" Shin chuckled darkly, yes; this was very much in their favor. Not only was this boy's death the key to world dominance, but also they would gain twice as good a reputation in Makai for killing the infamous Youko Kurama. Not to mention, a very handsome reward from many of the wealthy figures in the Demon realm that wanted him dead.

It had been fifteen years since the alleged 'death' of Youko Kurama, but three years ago, it had been proven from a reliable source that Kurama had intentionally reincarnated himself in the human realm, and was indeed, still alive. It was said Youko Kurama lost his memory at birth, yet was still assured to regain the memories of his past life. These demons planned to exterminate him long before he got back those memories and went back to thieving.

"Here's our plan," continues Akushitsuko,

"I'll disguise myself, hide the dragon ears, and my ki. While I look for boys around the age of fifteen, you stay hidden. When I lead him away, we'll both gang up on him. Knowing his skills in his past, I wouldn't doubt that his human form would at least be proficient in at least self defense." The dragon paused for a moment.

"How about we have a little fun with him before killing him? There's no need to rush into things, we can make his death as slow and painful as we want. By the time we begin, Youko will beg for death. Shin nodded and disappeared, signaling the other demon to mask his ears and tail, then to begin the search.

Akushitsuko walked down the path in his human-like disguise that was just like his other form, except there were no dragon ears and tail. A little boy darted across the path, giggling. A ball bounced at his feet, and Akushitsuko rolled his eyes, annoyed at the child's antics.

A short scream echoed before being cut off abruptly, Akushitsuko wiped the blood off his fingers in an innocent manner.

Kurama sat with Hiei at another table; occupying his time with the most fearless task he could find― eating. He'd gone up to a stand just a little while to get something to eat, and to treat and hungry looking Hiei to a meal. Kurama chewed gently on some lettuce from his salad and Hiei sat across from him; enjoying a meal of chicken strips and chocolate sweet snow. Kurama looked across at the black-clad boy eating, and almost smiled. He looked so innocent eating the ice cream; much unlike the regular, intimidating boy Kurama saw him as. They were disrupted by a soft, kind voice.

"Hello, would you mind if I sat here?" Hiei looked up to see a blue haired boy, smiling warmly down at them. Kurama scooted his chair further away, as if to say, "No Hiei, send him away, please." Kurama remained silent, but Hiei saw the look in his eye. He knew Kurama wouldn't like having this guy sit next to him. Hiei decided to invite him to sit down, for not only did he have no sympathy towards Kurama whatsoever, but also it would help ease away Kurama's fears.

"Fine." Hiei replied.

"You may sit." The blue haired boy bowed politely and took the only empty seat; one next to Kurama. Akushitsuko went on to introduce himself, remembering to use a fake name.

"It's very nice to meet you, my name is Aoi. May I ask you names?" Hiei looked up from his ice cream again to answer for the both of them, seeing as Kurama was in his own little world, and forcing himself to keep his attention restrained from Aoi. He found it kind of odd that Kurama was scared so much that his complete attention had been locked inside. Hiei made a secret bet if he went and taunted Kurama that he's chop his head off with a sword, Kurama wouldn't even hear him.

"Pleasure. I'm Jaganshi, Hiei, and the STUPID idiot over there is called Kurama." Hiei's tone was far from pleasant. Akushitsuko knew immediately this was who he had been looking for, the legendary Kurama. He seemed a little too sickly to be his reincarnation, but of course, Akushitsuko knew better than anyone that looks could be deceiving. A sinister smirk would've come across his face had he not been in the presence of the two boys.

"If I may be excused for a moment," said Akushitsuko, as he sensed his partner's presence nearby. He made sure that he was out of their view before he darted behind a tree and beckoned for Shin to appear. He leapt down from a tree and smirked.

"I see that you've found our target. Akushitsuko smirked and nodded. He's that redhead I was just talking to.

"How do you plan on leading him away?" he asked. The smirk remained

"You'll see. Follow me. Stay hidden, keep your ki masked. I've noticed that black-clad one is a demon; we don't want to take any risks. Shin nodded in compliance to the orders.

Hiei and Kurama sat looking at each other. It had taken Hiei a good few shouts, threats, and shakes before Kurama had finally come to his senses. The aftereffects on Akushitsuko's presence were evident; he didn't understand half of what was being said to him. "Kurama? What makes you so much more fearful of him?" Kurama merely shivered at the thought, he knew well what Hiei was referring to. He thought long and hard, shrugging his shoulders once but then answering

"It's something about him, I just get a really horrible feeling, like he's a cold blooded murderer, targeting me or something." Hiei blinked but did not comprehend, again, he brushed of what Kurama said. If that guy had been a mass murderer, he wouldn't be targeting Kurama specifically, he'd just go and kill someone to get it over with. Hiei also knew of all the serial killers on the loose. Of all of them, he was absolutely sure Aoi wasn't one of them. Plus, the last logical explanation was that the person was a demon out to get Kurama for specific reasons. If Aoi had been a demon, he would've sensed it. The boy Kurama had spoken of, reappeared suddenly, Kurama jumped and moved farther away from where he sat down, traveling back to his stated of unawareness. Aoi didn't seem to notice this; he spoke up, making an offer

"Kurama, you must really like nature. Would you like to come to the top of the mountain one of these with me? I am certain you will appreciate the view and all the trees surrounding it." Kurama shook his head, but Hiei would not let Kurama refuse just like that. He pulled Kurama up, and gave him a little shove. "Go on, in need a break from you." Kurama still shook his head 'no'. Hiei's gaze turned into a glare, and Kurama soon hears a telepathic voice in his head. One, which he recognized as the voice that belonged to Hiei the voice said in a cold tone

"Now, listen. You need to stop being pathetic, demons are supposed to be proud. You're a demons reincarnation, so act like one! Prove to me you aren't just a weak ningen, or I will make sure you die." Kurama sighed and nodded his head in a silent answer.

"Good. I'll see you later, Kurama." He walked off so he could have some peace. Kurama trembled a little, but began to follow Akushitsuko up a steep mountain path. The dragon smirked as he trekked upwards. This was too easy, once he lead Kurama up to the top of this mountain, killing him would be easy, and the youko would get the painful death he deserved. Even with search parties out within a few days would have trouble finding his body all the way up here, and by that time, they would be all the way back to Makai, planning the downfall of the Human realm. They reached the top, and Kurama actually smiled. Despite the cold temperatures, it was beautiful. Below the sheer cliffs you could see snow crested forests, where trees could thrive, but it was high enough up that the temperatures varied enough from the ground for it to snow. He barely heard the dark figure land in the snow behind him.

(1)kusari-gama- hmmm, I don't know the names for these in English. They're scythes with chains on the end. Imagine the weapons Kohaku(Inuyasha) or Kuronue(YYH) use. That's what they are.

(2) Due to the fact that I didn't use real Japanese names, I'll transliterate what I made up. Shin-death

(3) Mizu-water

(4) Akushitsuko- Evil child, vicious child See,s suiting for a villan, doesn't it?

Me: HAHAHAHAHAHA Clliffe! Yes, I love my dear old friend the cliffhanger. I will say, please, PLEASE review. I've been working by butt off to get this done, and someone's a review would make me very VERY happy. –Sigh- High school's looming over me. I start on the seventeenth, meaning next week. I really hope it won't constrict the time for writing, or I'll go insane. I will try my best to update before school starts, and work to update quickly during the school year as well. I still stand strong on my vow that I'll finish this fic and update quickly as well. Thanks for reading, and until next time, ja ne!


	9. Chapter 9

_**Enemies from the start, lovers until the end**_

Me: Hello Everyone! I finally managed to get this up! Yes…. Evil writers block ensnared me on this chapter. I do hope it isn't too boring.

Warnings: Yaoi, blood, stuff like that. If you highly detest anything of the sort, I suggest you put your mouse over that back button immediately. Remember, I'm not liable for any mental illnesses caught from reading this because of the yaoi stuff that's present.

Disclaimer: Yoshihiro Togashi. One word to describe him, my hero. So, I say nothing belongs to me that is of his creation. I DO however own a few things, this alternate universe plot, my original characters, Hikaru, Shin, and Akushitsuko. Yes, they are all creations of my own. Anyone who THINKS of claiming those as his or her own shall face my wrath. (Trust me, I have a dark side)

To the reviewers! I love you sooooooo much!

**Bgbg**

Well, I really appreciate the review…. I suppose. But what does Tuuyt mean? I have absolutely no idea. So, can anyone tell me?

**BlackRoseVixen05**

I'm glad that you liked it, and I hope you like chapters in the future! Thank you for reviewing consistently and telling me what you think about it.

**Evene**

Yes, he would hate Kuwabara if he knew him, lol. That's what I thought of when I looked it over. Thanks for reviewing!

**Kurama-Hieigirl25 **

Glad you like it, and sorry that I can't update day by day. But here's the upside to this. I put a lot of thought into these chapters, and because of the time span that passes between updates; the chapters are longer, since I'm not rushing. I think that my story would be a real piece of crap if I rushed. I'm glad that you enjoyed the story, and I'm also glad that you enjoy how I make Kurama and Hiei act. Thanks for reviewing!

**LoversPastForgotten**

Yeah, Hiei is a real jerk to Kurama. But mind you, he isn't used to the kindness thing, not to mention, having to deal with an anthropophobic human teen/ Hiei's never had much of a tolerance for humans, ne? He will warm up to Kurama eventually, though. Well, I'm glad that you reviewed

**Kuranga108 **

Yep, as you can see, he is starting to trust Hiei a bit more. Yeah, he did listen, which is kind of amazing, but Hiei did still have to make a threat. As for your question, yes, Kurama already did find out about the demon reincarnation thing, if you want to refer back to it, it's near the end of Kurama's memories in chapter four. Thanks for reviewing so consistently it really helps me out.

**Lol **

Yes, the horrible, dreaded cliffhanger. All fear it, all know it. Of course I update as soon as I can, I'm having a lot of fun writing it. The cliffhanger wasn't really a planned thing, but I decided to put it in. If I had kept typing, the update would've taken me a lot longer than I promised, and seeing as it was pretty long already, I decided it would be best if I just left it there for the time being. Thank you for reviewing, seeing as you're one of the reviewers who's been reviewing since near the beginning. I love the fact that you always review each chapter. Doomo arigatou gozaimasu!

**Kari Ishikawa**

Mhmm, CLIFFHANGER! No, Kurama doesn't go to school. Although I hadn't really made it too clear in the third chapter, what I was getting at, was that Kurama had been taught at home, and despite the fact that he was only twelve years ole, he was already studying at the high school level because he was so smart. After he moved to this new town, he just never really enrolled in school. Facts being he had the knowledge of pretty much someone in their senior year of high school, and the fact also being he wants to keep as far away from people as humanly possible. Thanks for the review!

**Kuramasgirl88**

I'm so glad you like it, and I like how you find it cool that Kurama's coming out of his shell. It depends upon what you call cold hearted. Hiei can be pretty cold, but at least not cruel like some people. I think Kurama appreciates that a lot. I really appreciate the fact that you reviewed!

**Shiorifoxiesmom**

I'm glad that you liked it, thanks for reviewing!

**Blueeyedchibi**

I'm happy that you enjoyed reading this chapter, and I hope you like this next one. I appreciate the review.

* * *

_**Chapter Nine**_

It was a nightmare-like situation from Kurama's point of view; a light crunch could be barely heard in the snow behind him. It was unbelievable that Kurama's ears were able to pick up the sound so accurately. The redhead turned in fear, dreading what was to come. He was immediately faced with a black-clad, frightening figure, even more intimidating than Hiei's appearance. He gasped and backed up, quickly to be reminded of the cliff a few footfalls away from where he currently stood. What little trust of people Hiei had taught him so far, if any, had evaporated as soon as he met eyes with Shin. Naturally, out of instinct, he froze, the fear beginning to consume his entire body. Kurama fought internally, forcing himself to adopt a brave, serious look. He was only half aware of the defensive position he assumed. He questioned in a fierce whisper.

"Who are you?" Kurama asked, forcing down the unquestionable fear that tore through his body. The water dragon turned and smirked, approaching Kurama, who cringed back and averted his gaze. Akushitsuko lifted his chin and slowly slid his sharp fingernail across Kurama's jaw line, drawing blood in the process.

"We're your worst nightmare, Kurama." He offered that answer for him, and savored the fearful look in the human's eyes. "You have long escaped death, Youko. It is time to face the inevitable." Kurama darted between the two demons and threw his fists up. He remembered well enough he could only defend, but who really cared. A growl escaped him slightly, and he pondered upon where it had come from, he wasn't left in his thoughts too long, though.

"I see. You want to fight, then?" asked the dark figure. He chuckled for a moment, and then continued

"Let us see if your strength is par to that of Youko's. Although I wouldn't think a mere reincarnation would have such skill, judging by the fact you're only a mere human. Don't you worry, though, I can say I am looking forward to it, even if you won't fight like Youko would" Kurama waited for him to attack, while trying to fight the trembles that were winning him over. Who was he kidding? He couldn't fight, much less, defend himself. Kurama felt his defenses would be meager against these two, and not only were the demons visually stronger than him, but they outnumbered him as well. He gulped as Shin slowly approached him, but was left to wonder what type of weapons he used. Either way, he was most likely dead for sure, maybe he used weapons, or maybe he did hand to hand combat.

Shin drew something shiny out of a sheath tied to his back, and after that, drew another one. It took a minute to register with Kurama that the chained scythes sitting within the shadow demon's grip were actually weapons, and he was punished for lack of attention on his enemy a minute later. He was vaguely aware that the weapon flew out and caught him slightly above the stomach. Pain seared at the spot, and he leapt back a little, blood tainting the pure white snow. The demons leapt forward then for an attack, and Kurama weakly blocked them, receiving deep gashes across his arms, the pain was almost to the point of overpowering him, and seeing as he had lost a lot of it already, he was beginning to feel lightheaded. He drew his attention back to the demons standing in front of him. Kurama wasn't even aware of the new gashes across his body. This pain… it made him dizzy, the pain bestowed upon him when he had been with Karasu seemed only slight to what he was being subjected to. For some reason, he had a feeling that the weapons they were using― Shin's kusari-gama and Akushitsuko's claws had some type of pain inducing poison on them, the area around his wounds seared as if it was on fire, and he felt as if this was causing him much more pain then was natural. He expected another attack to come but the water dragon merely held out his palm, a small puddle of Kurama's blood rested there. Kurama's brow rose in confusion, which earned a wide smirk. "Ironic, isn't it, that your own power can be used against you?" Kurama had a bad feeling about what he had just been told. In a minute, he understood what was meant.

Akushitsuko focused on the blood on his palm, and literally, it glowed for a second. Kurama began to back away, but wasn't able to avoid his own blood splattered across his cheek in a straight line. He didn't know what happened, but a minute late, he had collapsed onto the ground, a searing pain erupting throughout his entire body. It was so painful, he was much too dazed to even try and figure out what had just happened. A solitary thought traveled through his head.

'Hiei, please… help…' Emerald eyes looked fearfully up at the two demons, who seemed quite amused at his pain. He felt a dagger being lowered to his throat. He blinked, but sighed softly in resignation, giving into the pain that had overtaken his body.

Hiei sat in a tree farther away, his gaze turned up to the darkening sky. That wasn't a good sign; he could feel the wind begin to pick up. The temperature had already dropped far from the previously comfortable condition. That was just a promise for a storm, and Hiei found it annoying that it always rained so much. A thought shot through his, and his eyes shot open. The thought had not been his own, a faint, weak telepathic voice. What had it said? Hiei barely could make it out; it had been so faint and scared. A thought came into his head… Could it have possibly been Kurama who said that? From what he knew about the boy, he had no telepathic abilities. Who was he to care anyways? He could care less about what happened to the stupid fox, he was better off dead. A voice echoed inside the Jaganshi's head, it said

_You know very well that you're worried, aren't you going to save the precious boy? _The voice was taunting him, in a mocking voice, just daring him to retort.

_Do you really think I'm worried? Who are you calling him 'precious' anyways? It isn't like he's any use to anyone._

_You know that you want to save him, why don't you go and fight whoever it is. I'm sure they'll provide a challenge for the GREAT Hiei Jaganshi. _The voice continued to ramble on. Hiei, who had no desire to battle with inner consciences, spoke up again.

_All right, all right already, I'll go. Just shut up already! _

Hiei stood up, straightened the sword on his belt, and was off in a flash, only a black blur. He followed the fain traces of Kurama's youki up the mountain, dodging past rocks and leaping up cliffs to make his journey faster. He reached the mountaintop within minutes, shocked by the sight he saw.

Kurama was curled up on the ground, features contorted in pain. Two demons stood there, one was bent over Kurama's form, holding a knife to his pale throat. Hiei growled, the 'human boy' from earlier turned and smirked. He looked the same as last time… except he had dragon ears and a tail. Nobody made a fool of him and got away with it, this demon's trick would cost him, his life. The demon spoke up, against a strong gust of wind. "My, my, it's Kurama's bodyguard, here to save the day. Please tell me you know how to use that sword, for I am in no mood to watch an amateur fight." This infuriated Hiei, he leapt at Akushitsuko, sword pointed at the ready. A pounding pain traveled throughout his entire body as he felt a barrier deflect his attack, sending him flying back in the snow.

"Heh, I see you're truly a coward, hiding behind a barrier. It is cowardly for you not to fight!" These words only made Akushitsuko smirk wider.

"Fine. I accept your challenge. But for now, I bid you farewell. This is no place for a fire demon to fight, and therefore, I shall wait. I do want a challenge fighting you when the time comes, but I hardly doubt it. You can take the boy for now, but I assure you, we will be back for him." With those words, the two demons disappeared. Hiei slowly made his way over to Kurama. His features were still twisted in horrible pain, and he seemed… apart from everything else. His mind must be in another place. He shook the boy to get his attention, and slowly, Kurama's eyes opened. He looked weakly up at Hiei, and whispered a question, softer than a breath of air. "You came?" Hiei nodded and gently put a hand on his forehead. Kurama's body temperature had dropped drastically, to the point where it made Hiei worry about hypothermia and frostbite. His breath came in soft, labored gasped, and he managed to get out a few more words.

" 'thought you didn't care." Hiei sighed and gently picked him up, cradling him carefully so as not to disturb the wounds. Hiei shook his head and began to walk, raising his body heat to keep Kurama warm. Kurama gazed up at him, a sorrowful look coming to his features. Hiei still didn't reply to Kurama's previous comment, he slowly thought out what he wanted to say.

"Kurama, it isn't that I don't care. I just needed a break from you. I mean, it kind of gets annoying seeing you act this way, I'm just not able to deal with it as easily as some people are able to. Kurama averted his gaze and buried his face in Hiei's shirt, enjoying the warmth fully. Hiei smile and continued to walk, as they reached the lower part of the mountain, the snow gradually faded from the path. Although that happened, the temperature didn't improve much. Hiei kept his body temperature warmer, so as to quell a shivering Kurama.

He felt a wave of relief when they got to the house; he had to walk slowly so that he wouldn't injure Kurama even more than he already was. He managed to open the door while still holding Kurama, and kicked the door open with his foot. Darkness immediately greeted his vision, and he searched blindly for a light switch. It took him about ten minutes to find one, since he had to be careful of not letting Kurama's head hit the wall. He nearly tripped five times, but finally, he managed to switch on the light and finally be able to see properly. He walked over to the couch and set the boy gingerly down on it. Kurama groaned and opened his eyes, emerald eyes slightly glazed over, he blinked and watched Hiei as he moved about, heading to the kitchen first to retrieve so bandages from the cabinet, then remembering it was time again to give Kurama his medicine, and then heading back into the kitchen. The sound of running water filling a bowl was distinctly heard throughout the small house. Hiei retrieved a rag and filled a glass with water as well. Then, balancing all the items, he returned to the redhead's side.

Kurama glanced at him as he began inspecting his wounds, worrying about some that were in places more vital then others. "You're covered in cuts, Kurama, what in the three worlds did they do to you?" Kurama didn't say anything, but not simply because he didn't want to speak. He was still in a sort of daze. Dull pain still ached through his body, and due to the blood he lost, he felt extremely dizzy. He felt Hiei gently begin to remove his tattered, bloodstained shirt, and he gave a little groan of protest. Hiei understood full, and looked gently down at Kurama.

"Sorry, fox, you've got wounds on your chest that need tending to. It would be ignorant to just leave them." Hiei got a better look at the chest after this; a long gash ran across his mid torso, blood from the wound was all over his chest. Hiei slowly started to wipe away blood from the area, and then cleaning the wound itself with another rag dipped in antiseptic and disinfectant. At this, the fox winced and gave off a soft sort of cry. Hiei merely sighed and continued to clean and bandage the rest of what remained of the wounds. Kurama winced in pain from time to time, but mostly, his attention was elsewhere. After finishing, Hiei went to retrieve some clean clothes for Kurama. He grabbed the first outfit in the dresser he could get; a large black t-shirt and red pajama pants. He then threw the pair to Kurama, who stood, and went to the bathroom to change. He cast not one glance towards Hiei.

Hiei sat down and sighed. It was times like these he really didn't what to do next. It wasn't like he was mad at Kurama, for now at least, he just wanted to find a way to get to him. Kurama still seemed to believe Hiei didn't want to be with him, and although the redhead seemed to be slightly friendlier towards the fire demon, he still housed a fear of him. Ten minutes passed, and Hiei wondered if Kurama was still in the bathroom, he stood, and looked in. No Kurama. Where had he gone to this time? Hiei sighed it was getting harder and harder to keep track of him. He sighed and went to searching the Kurama's room.

His eyes scanned across the bed and the obvious places in the room. Still, there was no Kurama to be found. His eyes caught something; a figure huddled in a corner. He sighed and walked over to the fox. Kurama didn't seem to notice his presence: as if he was in some type of trance. This only made Hiei blink, and gently reach out to touch the uninjured shoulder. Kurama flinched back, paying the price of another bout of pain from the movement. A soft cry of pain escaped his lips, yet he still kept his distance. From a simple observation, Hiei could tell that Kurama was still cold. He was shivering violently despite himself, teeth chattering softly. Hiei reached out to get a blanket from the bed, and handed it to Kurama. As he wrapped it around the boy's shoulders, Kurama gave him a rather grateful look, Hiei gently put a hand on Kurama's shoulder now to coax him into a warm, comfortable arms. Kurama seemed troubled at this, but the warmth seemed to win him over, and he leaned in unconsciously, resting his head against Hiei's chest.

Hiei gently moved closed to Kurama's side so the fox would be more comfortable. Kurama actually smiled sadly, still seeming pained by the earlier events. This made Hiei's heart lighten considerably, despite the fact it was a sad smile, it made Hiei happy to see he could comfort him so much. Kurama's eyes were closed in enjoyment, and his chest slowly rose with each light peaceful breath. Hiei found a smile actually coming across his features.

* * *

Me: There we are! Yet another chapter. I encourage you to review, for I promise, you suggestions can help me improve, and it may help me get more ideas. Remember, I'm always open to your suggestions. Doomo aritgatou, and until next time, see ya. 


	10. Chapter 10

_**Enemies from the start, Lovers until the end**_

Me: Hello everyone! Yes, I'm sorry, it did take long. But don't you dare blame me; time balancing between school, Internet, role-playing, homework, and writing isn't an easy thing to do for me. I have worked really hard on this, mind you. I worked on certain parts during breakfast at school and during lunch instead of just sitting there, and it's been revised many times. Not to mention, the countless brainstorms that went into it. If you don't like this chapter, I apologize. I shall say, for the sake of all that is good, please, don't read this if you hate Hiei and Kurama together as a couple, it'll save you time. Today, I have decided to bring in someone to do the disclaimer. I have brought in… a mass murderer! Everyone, meet the escaped prisoner, Gilbert. Gilbert, please inform them how I own nothing that Yoshihiro Togashi owns rights to.

Gilbert: -holding knife, grinning maniacally-

Me: Um… maybe I SHOULDtell somebodyabout this convit. For now, I bid you my best wishes. Read on!

To the reviewers

**Kari Ishikawa**

I'm glad that you really like this chapter. Yeah, I am really mean to Kurama aren't I? Hmm, I think I'm becoming sadistic because I'm writing it. O.0 Yes, I'll probably drive my self off the edge of sanity with my own mind. Thanks for reviewing; I'm so happy you do so much!

**Evene**

Nope, no memories about his life as Youko Kurama so far. No, he doesn't know what his powers are currently, but I promise, in due time, he will. Gotta love his cute little platy techniques, right? Yup! You spotted le improvement. Cute fluffy scenes, I don't think I've met a person on here who didn't enjoy a fluffy scene. Looking over the chapter again, I do see what you mean about my use of words. Pain is in there way to many times, I'll pay more attention to synonym use in the future. Thanks for the advice, and thanks for reviewing again.

**Lol**

Well, I'm not sure if this is up very soon, but hey, I HAVE been working hard to get it up as fast as possible. For your question, I would answer that, but I don't want everything about the story to be revealed, so I'll keep that a secret for now. I promise you though, you'll know soon enough. Thanks for reviewing so consistently, I really appreciate it!

**Shiorifoxiesmom**

I'm really glad you liked it, and I'm really happy you reviewed as well. Thank you sooo much!

**Kurama'sgirl88**

I'm happy that you reviewed. Really, I don't blame you for shuddering at it. I shuddered when I wrote it, so you aren't alone. Thanks for the review!

**Kurama-hieigirl25**

I'm glad you liked it, and sorry that the previous length wasn't really as long as some people would've like I to be. But I swear I'll try as hard as possible to make this chapter longer than the last. I'm so happy that you reviewed, thank you!

**Nyte Kit**

I'm glad you liked it. I haven't heard about that new rule on fanfiction, I'd love for you to send me the petition. You can hind the address in my profile. Thanks for reviewing!

**Loverspastforgotten**

I'm glad you enjoyed the ending. Hiei? Being called a sweetheart? Not something I can imagine someone calling him out in the openunless they had a death wish. Thank you so much for your review.

**Blueeyedchibi**

I'm really glad that you liked it so much; you really are kind in saying that. Thank you for reviewing!

**Red Kitsune Flames **

Well, I'm glad you like the story as well as the character relationships. I'm relieved Kurama cowering in fear hasn't sickened you, 'cause I think that he's probably done that too much. I'm really happy that you reviewed. It shall be known I really appreciate the fact you have reviewed and I hope you do so again in the near future.

* * *

**_Chapter ten: Training_**

As the weeks passed from that day, Kurama's condition slowly began to improve. The sneezes left from his illness no longer came, and the wounds inflicted by Akushitsuko and Shin were almost completely healed. But still, the events still seemed to trouble Kurama, and despite the fact Hiei had save his life, he still didn't have full trust in him yet. Kurama seemed to still have trouble controlling himself when Hiei got to near him, and didn't allow him to touch him. Hiei saw this as an improvement, nonetheless, since Kurama seemed to now be able to bear staying with Hiei in a room for longer amounts of time. Hiei now slept on Kurama's couch each night, keeping a vigilant eye on Kurama at all times. Kurama hadn't objected his request to stay, Hiei had told Kurama he hadn't anywhere to go, and asked if he could stay at his house for a while. At first, the redhead was very hesitant about this, he was still nervous around Hiei after all. But eventually, he agreed to it. This gave Hiei the opportunity to keep a good watch over the fox, who was quite vulnerable at this point.

Hiei's mind was focused elsewhere; he wondered when the two demons that had attacked Kurama would come back. Kurama had only been semi-conscious when they made the vow that they'd come back, and Hiei had no intention of telling them of that vow. Even so, he became desperate to get Kurama to train with him and learn how to fight. The fox showed no interest in doing so, he told Hiei he didn't want to learn combat techniques; he just wanted to be left alone. The youkai didn't seem to care what Kurama said, he was as persistent as ever each time he asked the question.

It was early in the morning, but both demons were already awake, Kurama stood at the stove, stirring something. The other stood against the wall, watching Kurama in a vigilant way. At a sound of a familiar voice, the redhead turned his gaze and glanced at Hiei through emerald orbs, listening to his question. "What are you doing?" he inquired. The other didn't seemed to bothered by his question, but turned his head back quickly, still bothered by making eye contact. The youkai ignored the fact that Kurama took a slight step further away, distancing himself from any possible threats.

"Just cooking. Do you want any?" Kurama answered, stirring the rice in the pot. All he got back was the hn, which he had grown used to in the time he'd spent with Hiei. Although it really hadn't been an answer, Kurama pulled out an extra bowl for the boy, taking the reply he had offered as an acceptance. Easily, he poured some rice into the bowls and offered one to Hiei, heading to sit down at the small, two-person kitchen table. Hiei only glared, but soon after, decided to join Kurama in sitting down. Kurama didn't look at Hiei when he did sit down his eyes could be called somewhat― distant. That is, if one could actually see them properly. For now, Kurama's gaze was aimed straight down at his plate; he played with the rice with his pair of chopsticks unenthusiastically. Hiei took slow bites, deciding now would be the time to talk to Kurama about the training he wanted to give Kurama.

His explanations would be simple enough. He'd tell Kurama that they had said they were going to come back, and if Hiei wasn't able to save Kurama's butt when that time came around, he wouldn't have to worry, counting on the fact that he would know how to properly fight. He felt a peak of annoyance at this; he really wanted Kurama to just accept. Although he had learned how to have slight patience in the boy, sometimes he didn't know the meaning of the word. He wasn't used to having to wait for people like this before. But then again, he'd never met a person like Kurama before either. After he met Kurama, people who he found weird, annoying, or cowardly, seemed quite normal to the standards of Kurama, or at least― the standards Hiei BELIEVED Kurama possessed. It was scary that he had grown closer to Kurama than he guessed many people had, but there was still so little he knew about Kurama's actions, or reasons for certain choices he made. Heck, he didn't even know half of what Kurama's personality was. All he knew was just a tidbit of his history, and that Kurama was scared of people. It was noted in his mind, that Kurama could be quite… serene at times, that was the Kurama that Hiei preferred. Sadly, that was a rare face he ever saw Kurama wear, he was always so scared, it was what angered Hiei so much. He was desperate to know Kurama's innermost thoughts; there was just something about the character that urged him to get to know the boy better.

"Kurama," he stated planning to ask about the training now. The redheads gaze shot up, and more fear was instilled into his eyes when he looked at Hiei, as if he expected to get hurt of simply replying. A silence passed between the two, Hiei had his eyes fixed― rather, locked, on Kurama's demanding an answer of him. The fox only glanced back, in what was between mild and extreme fear. He still seemed to feel that if he replied to the question, something horrible would befall. Him. He finally mustered up the voice to speak.

"Y-yes, Hiei?" His cringed away a little, but Hiei relaxed his gaze to reassure him, he didn't want Kurama to break eye contact, it was a huge breakthrough on Kurama's behalf and he didn't want it to go back downhill so abruptly.

"Kurama, please, you need to train, these demons are going to come back, and it isn't like you can just live by hiding and using those meager defense techniques you possess when you need to. I'm not always going to be here to help, and if you can fight, then it will make your world a lot easier." Hiei paused to evaluate his expression. It was something he had learned to read over the weeks. The look told him 'Fighting is wrong, it hurts people, and I do not want to become like my enemies.' A second gaze also told him 'I am weak. I cannot fight.' Ha! And Hiei was just criticizing himself for lack of knowledge. He praised himself for reading those expressions. Still, the fire demon focused on staying serious, as he was trying to persuade the fox to learn how to fight. Who knew? Maybe in time the redhead would gain good skill and he would have a partner to spar with. So, he continued, in his regular annoyed tone

"I know that look, Kurama! Let me tell you something, ONE! There is nothing wrong with fighting; it is foolish to think so. AND TWO! Maybe if you started standing up for yourself instead of cowering in fear, maybe you would be stronger!" It was hard to sustain his growing impatience, and it showed through in Hiei's tone. Kurama lowered his head slightly, squeezing his eyes shut as if he didn't want to hear what Hiei was telling him. Trembles ran through his thin body, soft lips quivered a bit as he stared down at his plate. He just wanted to be alone; Kurama asked himself why Hiei was so persistent about this training. He'd never really cared before if he could take care of himself or not. Kurama stood weakly and looked at Hiei, head bowed in woeful apology. His mind kept reverting back to Yuusuke and Kuwabara, a single question nagging at his head. Yuusuke and Kuwabara had been so strong, how could he possibly measure up to their strength? How could he ever be strong enough to fight, if Yuusuke and Kuwabara had been easily beaten down by those demons?

Memories flashed through his mind, Yuusuke and Kuwabara pigging out at a watermelon eating contest and Kuwabara being beaten up for smashing an entire watermelon on Yuusuke's head. The judge automatically dropped their places, on account that it was against the rules, even if they had already participated in the first round and advance to the next. Yuusuke's child-like grin and odd sort of laugh when he and Kuwabara won first place in a martial arts tournament, making ten consecutive tournament victories. He imagined a younger version of himself, standing in the front row, smiling brightly, and laughing as Yuusuke and Kuwabara came to boast about their win. Often he would say that Kuwabara and him were the best team together, and they were unstoppable to any forces that stood in their way. Kurama felt tears well up in his eyes, and not wanting to cry in front of Hiei, ran off.

Hiei hadn't really been paying attention. He heard a muffled sob, and a slight gust of air as Kurama rushed past him. He was brought back to reality when he heard the soft, yet defined slam of a door. What was with Kurama now? Damn, he hated it having to be this complicated, he wasn't good at emotional things. Maybe Botan had just placed him on this job to drive him insane. He remembered how each time the ferry girl came to visit, she'd blab about how good of friends they were becoming. After that, she urged him Kurama needed to be rid of his fear, and that he needed to stop any demons near the town in the meantime. Hiei was beginning to get an idea of what Botan and Koenma's plans were, just using simple observation skills, he figured there was some sort of force Koenma needed Kurama to protect the town from. He wished he could figure out what was wrong with Kurama that easily.

Hiei sighed and walked to Kurama's room, turning the knob and kicking the door open. He was surprised Kurama hadn't locked it, but then again, maybe he had been to distracted to remember to do so. The redhead lay curled on the bed, body racked with sobs. At this, Hiei felt the desire to turn away, just forget about this nuisance and hide out into the demon world until Koenma found out and brought him to Spirit World Jail. Maybe, just maybe, he could convince the fox this way, maybe he'd be able to comfort him enough so he was determined enough to try. He made his way over to where the boy lay, trying to think of what to say to him.

"Kurama?" tentatively, he reached out and touched said boy's shoulder lightly. The effect was immediate. Kurama drew away, as with anyone who tried to touch him. His fear was accompanied by something else today, though; tears. Hiei saw them and his eyes widened a fraction, angry, saddened, ashamed tears streamed down Kurama's cheeks, and every so often, he would let out a soft gasp of air, and then a soft breath back in. It was evident, even to the clod Hiei that he was holding back loud sobs that threatened to overpower him. This almost made him feel sorry for the fox, it made a question appear in his mind. Had he caused this? It could be anything, Hiei didn't know what bothered him, and therefore, he COULDN'T know what had caused all of this. He spoke out again, voice ordering for an answer.

"Kurama, listen! What's so hard about it that you can't even try to learn? Damn it, I mean you won't even get near a weapon, despite the fact there are two demons that want to kill you. Isn't it instinct to try and strengthen yourself, to fight back with all the potential you have?" he was practically yelling now, but he wasn't really one to care about that. It angered him that Kurama wouldn't even fight; it was a waste of time just trying to help someone who didn't even want it. A soft voice came from the figure, and again, Hiei was jerked away from his current thoughts.

"How… how can I be? I wasn't even strong enough to beat Yuusuke and Kuwabara at sparring, and they were defeated by demons even weaker than this. Isn't it nature for demons to overpower humans?" he shouted, not in an angry way but in a desperate, reasoning tone. Hiei's eyes widened a bit more. Kurama was telling about his own past, and of his own free will this time. Instead of giving a usual protest like he usually did, he sat and listened as the fox continued.

"Yuusuke and Kuwabara were my only friends, and they already tried to train me! Obviously, I failed to learn from them, so why should I bother? I mean, you may say I'm a demon, but face the facts! I'm NOT a demon, and I'm NOT Youko himself. I only posses his soul, that makes me only a reincarnation, a shadow of that former being, nothing more!" Kurama broke down in a fresh wave of sobs. Hiei growled, he was in no mood for the fox's irrelevant rambling today. He grabbed the boy's shoulders and shook him roughly to bring him to attention. Kurama cried out softly, and brought his gaze fearfully up to the crimson eyes, beginning to tremble lightly despite himself. Hiei didn't care. His eyes bore down into Kurama's frightened emerald ones,

"Damn, Kurama, are you really that ignorant about who you are? Know this, it is simply not one's body that makes someone a demon. It's their soul. And last time I checked, your soul was nowhere near that of a true human. This is undeniable, you ARE a demon." Kurama looked scared, he bit his lip and averted his gaze. With a deep breath, he wiped away his tears and forced himself to stop crying. Kurama felt the need to cry, but with Hiei there, he simply couldn't allow himself to do so. It only made him feel more pathetic, and that wasn't something he needed at the time. Kurama, surprisingly, protested back

"So what? What does it change? I couldn't be a skilled fighter, despite what you claim, I do know what my abilities are. It's me we're talking about, not you." Hiei growled and glared, anger mounting further, Kurama immediately regretted saying what he had, and shrunk back slightly at Hiei's renewed frustration.

"Damn you, Kurama, how the hell are you supposed to know if you don't try. You're so stupid, can't you see fighting is in your demon nature; it isn't something you won't have talent at after you practice a little." Hiei screamed. He'd had enough, and grabbing Kurama by the wrist, he pulled him to his feet and stared him dead in the eyes.

"Listen, you are going to train! I will not take 'no' as an answer, fox!" he said in a firm, yet angered tone, squeezing Kurama's wrist rather painfully in order to stress his point. Kurama shook his head for a moment, but stopped when he saw Hiei shake his head firmly. The idea of training sent fear through his body, although he hadn't mentioned it to Hiei. Knowing the way the demon reacted to the redhead's phobia, he certainly wouldn't fare well if he admitted this. Slowly, he turned his gaze up to Hiei and nodded his head slowly, whispering a single word loud enough for Hiei to hear.

"Fine" At this Hiei smirked,

"Alright then, Kurama, prepare yourself. Then meet me outside in ten minutes, no more than that. We'll start training immediately." With that, he left, leaving Kurama behind in his wake. Hopefully the fox would be more cooperative when they started, it was beginning to get hard to deal with this attitude. Not that it was a bad one, like that of a delinquent, just a particularly annoying one. He headed out to wait outside of Kurama's door, watching him from inside with the aid of his Jagan. Kurama, surprisingly, seemed serious enough about this, so that was a good thing. Hiei watched the mental image of Kurama, multi-tasking. Kurama had slipped on some appropriate clothes and he paced randomly around the house, a piece of toast sticking from his mouth, simply because both his hands were occupied on combing and successfully untangling the mess that was his hair. Occasionally, he would pause and stop his actions to take a small bite of toast, and then return to brushing his hair.

Within a few more minutes, Kurama had finished and joined him outside, he glance down at the porch he was standing on while trying to hid the nervousness he was feeling at the time. He didn't know if Hiei noticed how nervous he was or not, he only wore a neutral yet distant expression that was impossible to interpret. He soon motioned for him to follow, finally giving Kurama a bit of information.

"Come. We will be training you in a forest near here, and I will be training you with a sword and in martial arts for now, seeing as neither of us knows what your best weapon will be" Kurama nodded, growing more determined as seconds flew past.

* * *

Me: Okay! Here's your chapter, I'm sorry it isn't really much longer than the last chapter. Hey, I at least tried. I really hope you liked it. –Sigh- High school is so tiring, I get to school at six fifty five and I don't even get home until four. Plus, that'll change once I start anime club. Well, I shall update ASAP, and in the meantime, would you be so kind as to review? It really makes me happy, and counting upon how long it took me to finish this chapter, the few minutes it'll take you to review are a piece of cake. Comments, questions, suggestions, and criticism are all most welcomed, because not only do I appreciate to know what you think is good about my writing, but I want to know what I need to improve on and fix. See ya until next time! 


	11. Chapter 11

_**Enemies From the Start, Lovers Until the End**_

**Disclaimer: **As I feel lazy today, I feel like I don't want to do a disclaimer. Please refer to previous chapters for any disclaimer information. As stated before, I don't want to be sued by any lawyers.

Me: Well, Hello everyone! How are you this fine day?

**To the reviewers who make life oh-so more live able**

**BlackRoseVixen05 **

Glad you liked it, thank you for reviewing!

**Lol **

Yeah, I can agree with you about school, it really sucks, and it makes me sleepy. Upside? I get to go to anime club, which is really a lot of fun. I did try and make this chapter a bit longer, and I mean it this time, so I hope you like it. Thank you so much for reviewing, I appreciate it! I think you're one of my most consistent reviewers, you're so cool!

**Nyte Kit**

Yeah, I suppose, it could help Kurama out in some ways. Personally, I like setting fight and training scenes in nature for some reason, don't ask me why. Kurama can find comfort in nature in many ways. He feels at ease, because it's his element, making him feel protected. Still, he doesn't know it's his element. Doesn't Hiei always seem like he's always at the end of his rope? Lol, maybe I make him a bit too angry. I'm horrible at keeping Hiei in character, I think. Thank you so much for reviewing like every chapter, it makes me so happy.

**Shiorifoxiesmom**

Thank you for reviewing again! I hope you like this chapter.

**LoversPastForgotten**

Thanks for reviewing; I'm happy that you review so many times

**Kari Ishikawa**

Yes, sometimes you need someone to be tough on you to truly reach you potential, isn't that right? I find that memories of the lost cannot only be extremely painful, but wonderful in a way. What I mean exactly, is once you get over a death and finally accept it, the memories you have with that person are more of a treasure then a burden. In certain circumstances, that is. If you regret something you were never able to compensate the person for, I'd say the memories would be more painful. Still, remembering the lost is always painful in a way. Well, I must stop the rambling and get to the point now. Thank you so much for reviewing, and I hope you do so in the future. Without you or everybody else's review, I think that it wouldn't be possible for this story to be here.

**Kurama-Hieigirl25**

Well, I'm glad that you liked it. Indeed, it would be funny if Kurama just snapped and pulled out his rosewhip Thanks for reviewing!

**Evene**

I enjoy the fact that you have some criticism for, it really helps me improve, and it's something I'm looking for. I do see the paragraphs are really bad. I'm going to try and improve upon that this chapter. Just tell me it the paragraphs are still bad. I'm glad that you don't think that Kurama's been cowering in fear too long, as some people don't hate patience watching such minimal progress each chapter. Ughh, Algebra's okay with me. You know what subject I hate? English, I may write, use big words, and proper grammar, but I absolutely suck at doing homework because I don't like having to do huge vocab units on words I already mostly know and have to write persuasive essays. Thank you an eternity for reviewing, I'm so happy you do.

**Red Kitsune Flames**

Well, I'm glad you liked it, thank you for reviewing!

**Youko's baby**

I'm happy you liked it, and thank you for reviewing!

* * *

**_Chapter Eleven_**

Hiei looked across the clearing at Kurama. From simple inspection, he could tell that Kurama was both strong-minded, and tense, but above all, insecure. He didn't believe he had what it took to fight, despite what Hiei had told him already. No matter what Hiei said, Kurama would always remain unsure about fighting. Hiei threw and extra sword he'd nabbed a few days back to Kurama.

"We'll practice martial arts offense first, I'll teach you sword techniques later." Said Hiei; informing Kurama of the things he'd need to know. The redhead only heard what he said vaguely, but still summoned up the will to nod, turning his gaze off elsewhere. Only then was he snapped back to attention by the cold, irritated voice.

"Pay attention, Kurama!" Kurama's gaze snapped up obediently. He wasn't listening to Hiei because he wanted to, but he didn't want Hiei to become more frustrated that he already was. Kurama nodded quickly and focused his attention on what Hiei said, staring off at a spot behind Hiei's head, so it looked like he was looking directly at him. Hiei looked at Kurama for a moment before continuing to talk.

"First, I want to see if your defenses are adequate, I hope they truly aren't mediocre, it isn't something I enjoy." Without warning, Hiei leapt forward and threw numerous punches, aimed in all sorts of places, some to the gut, to the face, to the chest, at the arms. He truly wanted to see Kurama's defensive skills. Most of them were blocked, but as Hiei had much more speed then Kurama, he did mange to hit him a few times. Kurama felt pain at this action, but pretended not to be fazed, for some reason, he had a burning desire to prove himself to Hiei, even though he never cared much about proving himself to anyone else.

Hiei look his chance, leaping behind Kurama and holding his arms tightly so he'd be unable to use them. It only took a minute for Kurama to react. The redhead quickly kicked back and attempted to break Hiei's grip on him. And although this was fast, he soon realized that he had needed to go much faster if he could be able to break the stone grip. Holding the boy's arms, straight out behind him now, Hiei brought his knee up to Kurama's back and kicked hard.

The consequences were automatic for the most part, the action sent Kurama to the ground, and from simple knowledge, he knew that if he attempted to escape Hiei's grip now, his arms would be broken. He yelped slightly in pain, waiting for the right time to be able to break the grip and leap up.

Again, he advanced upon the boy with numerous punches and kicks, wanting to test the boy and find his true potential. He smirked as Kurama slowly began to adjust to his pace of fighting, skillfully blocking each one. Even if these skills were choppy and could be vastly improved upon, Hiei found himself quite pleased with Kurama's abilities.

Judging by the style Kurama used, whomever taught it to him was much more focused on offense then defense, but the way Kurama used the style, he had developed stronger defenses then what he had originally taught. Well, he would teach a different style to Kurama. His style, one that revolved around not only strong defenses, but speed and strength as well. Hiei went in for several more blows in the next thirty minutes, being blocked sometimes, and sometimes being able to hit him; there was a downside to the success Hiei saw, though. It took at lot of energy to be able to keep up with Hiei's swift pace, not to mention more energy to keep blocking so incessantly. He fell to his knees a few minutes later panting.

Hiei looked at Kurama kneeling on the ground, out of breath for the time being. Humans tired so much more easily when going at the pace considered normal for a demon, and Kurama's human body was no different. Even if his skills far surpassed that of a regular human, the effects of following Hiei's pace were beginning to show on him. This only made the demon sigh. He'd be easy on the demon just this once, and ONLY because he felt sorry for driving the boy so hard, endlessly for that amount of time. It had to have been an hour at least.

"Come, Kurama, I'll let you have a break. Let's just go." He said to the boy. Kurama stared up at him, incredulity showing through in those emerald eyes. Hiei found himself staring at the jade depths― that was, until Kurama tore his gaze away. The redhead looked down at the ground as he spoke to Hiei.

"You want me to take a break? I thought you wanted me to train." This question surprised Hiei. Here he was, being all nice and allowing Kurama to take a break, and Kurama was telling him pretty much that he had been forcing himself to go on until near a point of exhaustion. Actually, that was only what Hiei suspected and it may not be true.

"Kurama, you're such an idiot. Take a break; I know that you're tired. Listen, just relax, I'm not going to force you to go on if you need a break." Kurama stood up and actually willingly made eye contact with Hiei for a good minute at least.

"Thank you," he whispered, only loud enough for Hiei to hear. Kurama smiled a little at Hiei, and although it was only for a second or two, it was unmistakable, even to the cold, uncaring Hiei. He slowly turned to walk back towards his house, and Hiei, with nothing else better to do while Kurama took a rest, followed.

Kurama sighed and plopped down in a chair quietly when he got inside, gulping down a large glass of water he had retrieved on the way. Hiei sat across from him and watched fixedly, searching for the smile that had brightened the once again, dreary expression. That smile had made him seem so much happier, less frightened, and even a bit more appealing than what Hiei usually saw Kurama as. It made him wonder why Kurama didn't go smiling all the time. It was satisfying in a way to know he had been the one to make him smile.

The figure across from Hiei showed no signs of acknowledging the fire youkai. He just sipped silently from his cup, staring off into the distance. Maybe deep in thought, perhaps. A soft question broke the silence between the two, a random one that confused Hiei.

"Hiei, where did you come from" Kurama asked quietly. Yes, and out of the blue, random question indeed. Because of that, Hiei wondered where Kurama had found the subject.

"Huh?" It was an unlikely word for Hiei to use, yet an appropriate one for the situation. He still didn't completely understand what Kurama had meant. Kurama repeated, and then explained what he meant. It was odd for him to be talking that much. Oh, well, who was complaining about that? Certainly not Hiei, that was for sure.

"Where did you come from? I mean what types of events brought you here and such." Hiei nodded vaguely, while a plan slowly formed in his head. This was his chance to figure out the mysteries of Kurama's life. He could just make a deal that if Kurama talked about every aspect of his own past; he'd do the same. The chance of Kurama lying was pretty much ruled out, because from what Hiei knew, Kurama was honest enough as it was.

"Okay, then, let's make a deal. How about you tell me about all the events in your past that make you who you are today. After that, I'll do the same for you." The expression he received from that wasn't a very good one, he hadn't factored in the chance that Kurama could refuse this altogether. Kurama thought hard, taking a few minutes to answer the demon.

"Fine… I guess. You promise you'll tell me about yourself after I tell you?" he asked, giving Hiei an almost pleading look. Hiei nodded, a motion that encouraged Kurama to begin with his own tale. Kurama nodded again before taking a sip of water and beginning to talk again. He took long pauses in between word, choosing to start over a few times before he found a strong sentence to continue with.

"Well, I guess you could say many events led me up to this. But the farthest back I can think that's around the time these events started, I was only twelve years old. I was so happy; I seemed to have a perfect life. Stupid― but nonetheless, good friends, who'd stand by me all the time, their names were Yuusuke and Kuwabara. They'd decided they wanted to train me, and despite the fact I had refused a numerous amount of times, they finally convinced me, and I began to train with the every day. It seemed to go well for a little while, but soon after, my entire village was destroyed," Kurama paused for a moment.

Emotions tore at his heart; he found it hard to bear― talking about this, to be specific. He'd never, never talked to anyone about this, not even Hikaru. It was hard, yet somehow, it was comforting to know Hiei was listening to this. How could that be, it was so rare for Hiei to ever offer such comfort, much less on this subject. Nevertheless, he continued, voice wavering between shaky and slightly confident.

"It-it was _that_ day. I had spent some time in a forest near my village, and I eventually fell asleep in a tree. I was awoken to the smell of smoke. And-and…" his voice wavered off for a second time, it was becoming hard for him to speak. Hiei stared at him, confused while the dejected fox tried to find his voice and keep calm. Soon enough, he found the courage enough to speak up again, so he still continued on.

"When I arrived, my village had already been burned pretty badly. It was unbelievable, so many people were dead, and… as were Yuusuke and Kuwabara. They killed my mother in front of my eyes, he screams still haunt me sometimes, even after all this time." Kurama could no longer bear it; silent tears fell from his eyes as he reminisced the event from the past. He forced himself to continue.

"They captured me and took me to Karasu and there I remained for almost three years. He wasn't kind, in fact, he was completely opposite, he hurt me in more ways then many… But through all that, there was one person who could make me happy, only one. His name was Hikaru, he made me happier then I'd been in a long time. He acted so nice, almost like he cared about me. But I was once again proven wrong! He just HAD to go and get me in trouble with Karasu, and betray me like that. God, I TRUSTED HIM!"

All this was said in an extremely choked voice, and as Kurama finished, he gave a muffled cry and collapsed from his chair onto the ground. His cup of water fell from his hand, the cup shattering a few inches from his face, water running across the floor in a small puddle. Despite all that, he couldn't care less. Small shards of glass cut across his cheeks and a light trail of blood leaked onto the floor, water soaked through his shirt and soaked his hair. Yet still, Kurama just lay there, all spread out on the floor, tears splashing lightly from his eyes. Hiei got up and looked down at the mess of a boy that lay at his feet, his gaze hardened, but he forced the feeling back and gently knelt down to Kurama's level, lowering his expressionless gaze to the boy's.

"Listen, Kurama. Simply because you've had bad experiences with people in the past doesn't mean you need to cry over it now." Kurama almost glared, and automatically lashed back out at Hiei for it, not wanting to get put down by Hiei's insults before he could get his words out.

"You don't get it, do you? I lost everything that I loved in one day; some demon comes along and decides to keep me in a dungeon for three years as his prisoner, just my luck, right? And then the one thing I think I've gained back in my life is withdrawn immediately. I though I could trust Hikaru, and I was wrong. I loved him, and Karasu took it from me and tried to kill me for it, as if loving is a sin for me. For all I know YOU could just be another servant of Karasu, waiting to trick me again just like Hikaru did."

This made Hiei anger in an odd sort of way, his heart throbbed for a moment at the tome of voice he'd used towards him, he clutched the spot lightly, forcing the alien feeling away. Kurama softly whispered something out,

"I'm such an idiot… I truly do deserve to die, don't I Hiei?" With that, he buried his face in his arms so he wouldn't anger Hiei anymore than he had already. Surprisingly, it wasn't an angry response that he received. Hiei just knelt down further and ripped a bit of his shirt off, dabbing another place that was bleeding quite badly, the underside of his wrist. He tied it around the wrist tightly and went to the medicine cabinet to retrieve bandages, speaking as he went.

"You aren't going to commit suicide, are you? It's only a cowards way out of life, and I don't even think you'd stoop to that low of a level. But then again, maybe I'm wrong about you." Kurama sat up and pushed himself to his feet, beginning to pick up the shards of broken glass and throw them in the trash. Hiei walked over to him and forced him to sit, Kurama wasn't in much of a mood to protest today. Hiei hit Kurama lightly upside the head (not enough to hurt him) and scolded angrily upon closer inspection of both cuts.

"Damn you Kurama, that's a deep cut, and you got blood all over the floor. Hn, so much for training today, you idiot." He muttered, while wrapping the left wrist. He pressed hard against the wound and wrapped the bandage quite firmly around the wrist. It was enough to cut off circulation, but still enough to allow a little bit of blood through to his hand. He winced, but made no comment. Hiei was already mad enough, at least, it seemed. It was just― Kurama really wanted to see a time when Hiei would actually praise him, and tell him that he was impressed.

Ha! Like that would ever happen! Kurama saw no talent in himself that Hiei could ever appreciate, so there was no point in dreaming about the impossible. Kurama stood up quietly in the middle of Hiei wiping blood off his forehead and he gently tugged the rag out of Hiei's grip, muttering, "I'll take care of it myself" before sulking off to his room.

Hiei stayed behind, left to clean the blood and water mess. At least he didn't have to be in a room with that fox, he couldn't think of a person he hated more at the time. He began to wipe up the mess on the floor, contemplating about everything Kurama had said. Anger and that unknown emotion washed through his senses again, and merely due to lack of attention, he slipped and landed right in the middle off the mess. 'How pleasant' he thought 'Now I'm wet AND I'm covered in his blood, he rolled his eyes angrily at this and finished cleaning quickly. He had a shower in mind now, so he stormed back to Kurama's room to ask about it.

He knocked on Kurama's door lightly, opening it and glancing inside. "Kurama?" he called. Said redhead did not stir on the bed, he laid there motionlessly, his soft green eyes closed and a neutral expression dominating his features. For a minute, Hiei panicked, believing that the boy had fallen unconscious due to lack of blood. He ran up quickly to him and lowered his ear to Kurama's chest. A normal heartbeat met his ears, and for some reason, Hiei sighed in relief.

"I'm taking a shower, okay, fox?" He called to the sleeping figure behind him, heading into the Bathroom and locking the door. He sighed as he entered, and he quickly stripped off his clothes and stepped into the shower, switching it on. The warm water that over his body spilled relieved him, and he furiously began scrubbing himself to rid not only the blood itself, but also the scent as well. There was nothing that he hated more then smelling like blood. He forced Kurama's picture out of his mind and furiously began scrubbing his entire body.

Kurama opened his eyes a moment later, keeping his head low before his ears caught the sound of Hiei in the shower. Now he could go make lunch in peace, he hadn't meant to really run away from Hiei so quickly, but it seemed as if he needed a short break from him anyways, not that he found Hiei irritating or anything, it was just he enjoyed time alone, and at the time, he wanted some. He threw together some leftovers for dinner, making a plate up for Hiei, then a smaller plate for himself. Silently, he munched down on some sushi and ramen, not showing much interest in the action. Maybe a walk could clear his mind.

Washing his plate, he took a pen and wrote a quick note for Hiei.

_-Hiei-_

_I'm going out for a while, just to let you know. Please, don't come looking for me, I need to clear my head, and I'd rather be able to do it alone. I've made you lunch, and left it out on the table, seeing as you're in the shower now. I'll see you later, since I am coming back. _

_-Kurama-_

He left the note on the table and walked out the door. Maybe he could go and get some ice cream; it would be nice change of things. Ice cream could always cheer people up, it worked on him, and so, with that in mind, he headed towards a nearby ice cream parlor.

Hiei got out of the shower and immediately dried himself. He'd have to wash his cloak off somewhere; it was completely covered in blood. The good thing was, that his cloak was amazingly thick, and no blood had seeped through to his shirt and pants. He walked out of the bathroom and went to check on the fox. He'd have to wake him up if he was still asleep, he didn't want Kurama to be sleeping in the middle of the day, not when he could be doing something else. When he looked into the bedroom, he saw no Kurama, and the bed was neatly made.

So, the fox had actually gotten up. That had to mean that he was either in the kitchen or in the living room. He wandered out to that spot of the house. Still, he didn't see any sign of Kurama. By chance, Hiei's eyes happened to skip over the lunch on the table along with the note.

For a moment, panic spread through Hiei's body, and an uncontrolled thought that Hiei didn't know where it had came from popped into his head. What if Kurama was injured and dying somewhere? He was just about ready to bolt out the door when his nose caught the smell of lunch. Curiously, he turned his head and looked over to the table, he now saw the note.

Quietly walking up to the table, he picked up the note, reading it over quickly. It seemed the fox had simply gone out for a walk. A suspicion passed over him quickly, but was soon quelled by the sniffing of the note. Kurama had written this willingly, and there weren't any other demon scents on it. Plus, he'd raised his awareness to the youki in this vicinity. Besides him and Kurama, there were no other demons in this town currently.

Actually, he felt relieved to have some time alone; the human had really been getting to him over the past few days. He plopped down at the table and ate the food Kurama had made him. It was just leftovers, really, but pretty good ones at that, A salad had been made to go along with some cold white rice mixed with some leftover breaded chicken. Yeah, so maybe it was an odd combination, but it was still quite enjoyable. Hiei enjoyed the silence.

A few minutes after eating, he sighed. It was so odd here without Kurama, he found the scene almost unnatural in a way, and he sighed and lay down on the couch. Nothing to do at all, not even talk to Kurama. A few times, he thought of going out and finding him, but the thought was always rejected a few minutes later. Obviously, he needed some time to think, as it had been stated in the letter and unless Kurama was planning on doing something stupid, that was. It was the last thought that went through his head before he fell asleep right there.

Hours later, a door opened as Kurama let himself into the house. What a nice break that had been. He'd forgotten how nice it was to be outside for such and extended period of time. Gosh, he loved the outdoors. He blinked and glanced around, expecting to receive an angry lecture for something or another. To his surprise, that didn't come. He was faced with a quietly sleeping feature. 'He looks so innocent when he sleeps…' he thought. He gently reached down to touch the demon's shoulder. "Hiei" he called softly/

That in itself was enough to wake Hiei; the fox assumed he must be a light sleeper. He heard a growl, and looked down to Hiei, he looked quite mad, he could feel the small body heating up under his fingertips. "Get you hand off me" he whispered venomously. Kurama immediately complied and removed his hand from his shoulder.

"Umm, I just wanted to say, I brought home some ice cream, would you like some?" asked the boy in a nervous voice. Hiei's eyes widened and the angry look disappeared almost completely. Sweet snow! He hadn't had it in over a year, and he was what you called a sweet snow addict.

"Where" he asked intensely Kurama pointed to the table, where a bowl resided. Hiei immediately forgot his anger towards Kurama, racing towards the table and digging into the bowl of ice cream with a spoon. Kurama followed him over slowly and sat down across from him, taking a few minutes to ask his question.

"Hiei, you promised that you would tell me about your past if I did the same for you," he said. Hiei finished licking off his spoon and pushed the bowl off to the side a little.

"Fine." He replied. Little known to the both of them, two figures stood outside the window and watched as the two talked.

* * *

Me: Finished! And that was a bit longer, ne? Well, I hoped you liked it and as always, I am pleading with you to review. High school may be a pressing matter that takes up a lot of my time, but I swear, I will continue if I get enough reviews. It's simply because I want to know if people like this fic or not. There really isn't a point of continuing a fic that everyone thinks is just a sucky waste of space on the Internet, now, is there? 


	12. Chapter 12

_**Enemies from the Start, Lovers Until the End**_

Me: -Yawns- Late... Almost midnight... must finish fic...

Disclaimer goes as follows. Yoshihiro Togashi owns everthing pertaining to Yuu Yuu Hakusho. I won't deny it, so don't you go denying that I disclaimed this chapter.

Warning: Y-A-O-I If you don't know what the word is, take it up with me. But if you're an anti-yaoi person, this fic is not for you. So please, don't waste your time, just leave.

Kurama and Hiei sat in the silence of each other's company. Kurama sat with one eyebrow raised while he waited for Hiei to speak. It still seemed like Hiei was contemplating on whether or no tell him.

Finally, he spoke up as Kurama began to believe he wasn't going to be told anything, despite the situation and the promise. "Well, I guess you could say it all started when I was born. All the events led me up to where I am today." Said Hiei in a semi-annoyed voice. Overall, it seemed as if he was quite touchy on the subject. Not in the emotional way, but in way like he hated to talk about it.

**To the faithful reviewers who inspire me and make this fic possible:**

**Evene**

Well, I'm really happy that you reviewed again. I'm really happy that you always review each chapter I put up. Your reviews that contain both criticism and complements really help me improve. See? Solid brick wall of text pretty much gone. It's all thanks to you, ans I really love ya for that! Hiei's being OOC, well, I guess I expected to see that. He's kinda hard to keep in character in a romance fic for me. Thanks for reviewing.

**Lol **

Yay! I am so glad you reviewed again. Along with a few other's you've been my most consistant reviewer for one of the longest time. I love that so much, and I want to let you know how much I appriciate it. Thank you so much for reviewing, and I hope that you enjoy this chapter.

**Loverspastforgotten**

Well, thank you so much for reviewing, I'm glad that you liked it, and I hope that you review in the near future.

**Red Kitsune Flames**

Yup, he's a sweet snow addict. Hey, I think the ideas a cool one. Sweet snow rules, but it's rare that I get to have it, so I like to write about Hiei being a sweet snow addict. Ice Cream rules, I'm sure many will agree upon that. Thanks for reviewing!

**Shiorisfoxiesmom**

I'm glad that you liked it. It is good that Kurama has someone to poke their nose into his bussiness. I live upon the theory that it's unhealthy(as mentioned in previous chapters) to not talk about things. What's bad is I'm bad at doing so, I don't like talking to people about the stuff. Thank you so much for reviewing! I hope that you like this chapter.

**Kari Ishikawa**

Lol, that is extremely poetic, but it's very nice poetic. I'm a sucker for that kind of romance angst stuff, but I think that I suck at writing such romance. Kurama has it all kept locked inside far to long, so I too think that it was a good thing that Hiei stepped in and listened to what Kurama said, even if his advise towards him wasn't as helpful as it could be. Suicide isn't a pretty way to see someone die, is it? I bet Hiei probably would go balistic. Yeah, he would go to prison if Kurama died, so that's another minus. You weren't rambling, hearing what you had to say was very interesting and enjoyable. I ramble, people get bored. Thank you so much for the well thought out review, I really loved to read it and get some feedback on what you thought.

**Nyte Kit**

I'm glad that you liked it. I know that there isn't much happening in my chapters for the time being. Do you think that I'm going to slow with the story pace, or do you think it's a good pace? Thanks for reviewing so consistantly, it really helps me. Again, arigatou Gozaimasu!

**Kurama-HieiGirl25**

Thank you for reviewing, I really appriciate it.

**KyoHana**

I'm glad that you have been reading and enjoying my story. I'm also glad that you reviewed this chapter, it's nice to hear there's people out there reading it. No way I'm going to abandon it.

**Kyo's Little Koneko**

Thank you for all your reviews, they really are greatly appriciated. I hope that you review again and enjoy this chapter asd well.

**Youko's Baby**

Thank you for reviewing. I'm a first year, just a freshman. Man, I want to go back to Junior High where I actually had the same lunch period as my friend. School work sucks. Thank you for reviewing!

**Sabrinaw**

Thank you so much for reviewing, I really appriciate it! Hope ya like this next chapter.

Now that that's all said and done, ONWARD WITH LE FIC!

* * *

_**Chapter Twelve: Hiei's Mysterious Past Revealed**_

"I was born of an ice maiden and a fire demon, a generally forbidden relationship. In koorime society, it's a sin to have children like that, and automatically, my mother was banished from the land of glaciers, along with my twin sister, Yukina and I. Our _father _came along with us, and as I have been told, we traveled around the demon world and were almost a completely _normal _family. Except for one thing, that idiot father of mine had to go and kill himself. There was no reason at all behind his suicide. He was perfectly happy, but when he killed himself, the bastard broke my mother's heart. Yet still, she continued to try to raise us as best as she could. We eventually joined up in a band of traveling demons. Not criminals, yet still, banished from their home land without anywhere else to go." Hiei paused in his recollection, causing the redhead to blink curiously.

He desperately tried to find something to say as Hiei gazed at him expectantly, as if waiting to hear something "A-ano… How about I make some tea for us while you continue, Hiei-san?"

He stuttered. He shut his eyes tight, somehow worried about Hiei's reaction to those few words. It took him a few minutes to register the words he heard soon after. "Whatever" Kurama blinked and let out a relieved sigh. He stood quickly and without saying a word, walked over to the other side of the kitchen to heat some water for the tea. He listened intently to the words as Hiei continued.

"As I was saying, my mother and I traveled with this band of wanderers, and once again it seemed like life was good again. Hard, either way, but nevertheless, good" He paused again, and met with emerald orbs questioning him. Wordlessly, Kurama set their two cups of tea down on the table and took a sip. Still, the silence remained between them, and Hiei just continued it by taking a small sip of the hot tea offered and then staring at the fox.

"It was, at least― until that idiot bastard came along. He barged right into their lives and killed them for his own amusement. My mother and I escaped with Yukina, but both of them were wounded, and since I was a mere child, I had no experience in caring for wounds. Nevertheless, I did what I could with aid from Yukina, who managed to help heal my mother, despite the fact she was injured as well. Yukina had always been a good healer."

Kurama listened while Hiei talked, his cup sat forgotten on the table as he listened. Had Hiei lost his whole family? It surprised him. Maybe he and Hiei were alike in more ways then he thought. The idea brought and odd warm feeling to his chest. He felt a blush come across his face, and he automatically hid it. Why was he feeling so strange? Luckily, Hiei didn't seem to notice this. He just continues what he was saying.

"They… died. And there was noting I could do. I had to watch them die of those wounds while I tried my best to help them. Yukina died first, she was so weak from trying to help my mother as much as she could. With the loss of blood combined with energy loss, she caught a deadly disease of the demon realm. My mother went soon after, I tried my best to help her, but it simply wasn't enough."

Hiei felt anger like none other travel through his system. A hiss escaped his lips as he clenched his fists tightly. Light trickles of blood ran from cuts from his sharp nails. He didn't seem to care.

"Damn bastard, I swear, if I ever meet that guy again, I swear…" He narrowed his eyes and glared at Kurama. A soft voice brought the angered demon back to earth.

"Hiei? Who?" Kurama asked quietly, with a simple desire to understand. This question made Hiei unexpectedly lash out. He leapt out of his seat and growled out loud, causing Kurama to shrink back slightly.

"The name is not YOUR concern," he snarled.

"UNDERSTOOD?" he yelled heatedly. Kurama nodded very fast and eyed Hiei carefully, masking his fear as Hiei glared.

This seemed to calm him a little at least, so he sat down and took a quick sip of tea, breathing rather unevenly. It wasn't he cared if he knew a mere name, but it was the fact that he didn't want to tell Kurama. He always had his own reasons. Kurama waited quietly for what Hiei would say next.

"Shortly after their deaths, I was brought to the human world and abandoned by a band of demons who were taking care of me at the time. They simply didn't want me there, so they left me in the streets of a called Kobe. There, I was picked up by a human couple that wasn't able to have a child of their on. They said I was a gift from all the gods above, and I was more special to them then anything in the world. I didn't really care, my aim was to grow stronger there and then break free of the chains that bound me here, but before returning to the demon world, I wanted to become stronger."

He paused again. He remembered the day those demons had left him. The bastards. It had been in the middle of the night, and not only that, it was cold and rainy.

_A little Hiei stood at the feet of some large and rather threatening looking demons. It was an odd sight; he looked so innocent next to them. Small, childlike figures and large innocent eyes that still held a child's view of the world. He gazed back at them with the innocent crimson orbs and blinked quietly. _

"_What are we doing here, Yomi-san" he asked. The tall, blind demon stood towering above him. He had taken in Hiei a months weeks ago, but found Hiei to be too much of a burden. It wasn't like Hiei was a high-maintenance type of kid. He could go on a meal a day if they were short on food, he didn't cry over stupid things, and he didn't get in the way. Even so, Yomi found he didn't want to keep him until he was older. _

_Eventually, Hiei would want to fight and learn things that usually the father taught. Then he'd go out and get himself a mate, and if there wasn't anything Yomi hated more then teaching kids to fight, it was two young demon mates. He'd be better off here, where someone better than a thief could raise him. Besides, Hiei would only encounter trouble living the lifestyle like they did. _

_"We're going to leave you here, Hiei." said Yomi, smiling a little. _

"_The humans would love to have a little squirt like you." added Kuronue, a bat demon standing at the demon's side. Hiei looked determined, he ran up to Yomi's leg and dug his sharp little claws into the pant leg, careful to avoid catching the skin. He clung tight and pleaded in a soft voice. "Please, Yomi-sama! I don't want to live with the ningens. I want to stay with you and Kuro-sama. I promise, I'll do anything."_

_Yomi stoically bent down and plucked the little fire youkai off his pant leg and brought his face down to his view. The bandit replied to this in an oddly kind voice. Perhaps, he thought, he had grown soft for this little child. "Then do this for me, Hiei. Stay here. We don't want you anymore, so don't follow." Hiei looked sorrowful while little tears welled up in his eyes. Yomi had been the closest thing to family for the past few months. He was a caretaker, a friend. He nodded sadly and walked off without saying anything. _

"_Did we really do the right thing, Yomi?" asked Kuronue as they watched Hiei run off. The bandit looked back at his partner. _

"_We have. Hiei mustn't be involved in our life. He must decide for himself what life he wants to live without our influence. I wouldn't care if he became a thief in the demon world when he's older, but he must make that decision himself when the time comes. If he lives with us, we're deciding his fate for him." Kuronue nodded._

"_I hope he'll be alright," he said hopefully. This made Yomi chuckle._

"_You shouldn't worry. Hiei's a feisty kid, he'll be alright."_

"_I hope you're right." _

_Hiei walked down an alleyway, lost and lonely. the little child couldn't understand why he wouldn't be able to stay with his caretakers any longer, he had always been extremely careful not to anger them. He longed so much that he could prove himself and show them he was worth something. He sat lay down on top of a dumpster and slept, dreaming of a day he could make himself stronger._

_The sleep seemed to last forever. The reassuring dreams that were brought with it comforted the small demon to a calm point. At the time, he felt free of all the burdens felt. There was a thought that lingered withing the back of his mind that made him restless, though. _

_He remembered his mother, and what had happened when she died. The little boy had lain himself across her chest, pleading with her to awaken. A naieve child, he had been. Pathetic, dependent, idiodic. Hiei had shed tears over this, and lay by his mother's side motionlessly until Yomi and Kuronue found him._

_They'd taken a pity to him since nobody was around to take care of him, and his family was obviously dead. So, it ended up that they carried little Hiei back to thir hideout and cared for him._

_...Yomi and Kuronue were gone..._

_The thought was enough to stir him from his sleep. His crimson eyes flicked open and he was faced with a young cople, looking over curiosly at him. They seemed to find their voices as they opened their mouths. A second later, both man and women closed their mouthes and just quietly looked at the boy. The brown-haired women eventually spoke up. _

_"What's your name, little boy? Don't you have any parents?" she had asked. The voice was so kind, he felt the urge to answer it. So he did._

_"Hiei. My parents are gone..." he said. The woman looked shocked. _

_"Then you haven't anywhere to go? No home? Not even an orphanage?" she excalimed. Hiei shook his head as if it wasn't a big deal at all. He was immidiately grabbed up in a set of arms. The woman had obviously taken much pity to him. _

_"Haru! Please, can we take him home with us? You and I always wanted to have a child and seeing as we aren't able to, we could keep him as a son insted!" The man looked quite taken aback. Obviously, the word 'son' didn't seem to appeal to him. The boy was scrawny, thin, and dressed in a little black cloak. The red eyes he say looking back at him, they seemed unnatrual. This kid strangely reminded him of a vision of a cruel monster._

_"Misa-chan, I know you really want a child, but would he be better off with us? Besides, who on earth has red eyes. People may get suspicious... We could juist take him to an orphanage." he replied._

_"Haru-kun!" she retorted back sharply._

_"You aren't supposed to judge little children simply by their eye color, are you? Besides, I've heard those orphanages are dreadful places where wonderful children rot away for the rest of their childhood. Pleasssse can we just take him home?" she said giving him one of those puppy dog looks that are irresistible. His face ligtened and fell a little._

_"Misa chan..." he gave her one last look, before giving up comepletely. "Oh, all right" Misako gave a cry of glee and flung one arm around her husband, holding Hiei in the other._

_"Oh, Haru, I know he'll be a wonderful son! Thank you, thank you so much!" He said, hugging him tightly. Haru turned slightly blue from Misako's stranggling embrace._

_"Y-yes, a wonderful son indeed. Now, Misako, can you pease let go?... I.. cann't breate" Misako let go and skippend out of the alleyway, singing a joyful tune._

_"Come on Haru! Let's show Hiei his new home!" Haru took a few relieved breaths and followed his wife. She could be way to enthusiastic or melodramatic sometimes. He smiled, and that's why he loved her. In truth, he was excited as well to think they'd be able to raise a son. They'd recently found out that Misako was unable to bear children. The both of them had wanted a child so badly. He caught up with Misako and gave her and gavee her a quick kiss on the lips before ruffling curious little Hiei's hair._

_Hiei had never been to a city in te human world before. His eyes scaned across everything and anything. There were some giddy girls dressed in blue sailor shirts and blue pleated skirts walking enthusiastically, in heated debate about what boy at their school was cuter. They passed a sushi bar with all the cooks in the front, choping fish, seaweed and other seafood. Hiei's eyes caught another sight. There were more school kids sitting in an alleyway in another heated debate. Hiei wasn't able to follow. _

_"I'm telling you, I'm the bigger fan!" protested a boy dressed in an odd pink uniform. He held up his backpack that had hundreds of keychains on it._

_"No! I am. I've learned how to suucessfully use their powers!" She clapped her hands, nothing happened. The boy burst out into hysterical laugter, rolling on the ground from it. _

_"Haha Amaya. Fear the power of nothing! What a stupid comeback." The girl sweatdropped, he face beginning to redden. A bird flew by and pooed on his head, followed by another bird. It was Amaya's turn to laugh as the boy furiously tried to get the mess out of his hair. He growled and lept forward, tackling her. A cloug of dust arouse and they weren't visible. Three others, a two boys and a gril watched with amused looks._

_The girl seemed to win this battle. The boy lay on the ground, comepletely defeated. "Yay! I have vanquished the enemy Nanashi! I am superior!" She said, punching her fists in the air." The boy on the ground chuckled and said,_

_"Heh, very finny Amaya." He outstreched his foot and she tripped, falling to the ground. One of their school friends commented something about how they took the whole definition of 'young love' to a whole new level and that they were as mature as two five year olds. Both of them protested at the same time._

_"We aren't in love!" The three others laughed while Amaya and Nanashi glared angrily_

_As they got farther away, Hiei could no longer see the two bickering teens. They came upon an apartment complex and entered, Misako smiling and hugging Hiei a little. They entered their apartment and sat down on the couch. Haru went to go get some food while Misako cooed at the little child, doting on him as if he were her own child. Hiei only blinked, unaccustomed to a human mother's affections. _

_Haru came back with a bowl of rice and offered some to Hiei. To their surprise, he took the bowl and began eating himself, using the chopsticks as skillfully as an adult would. He blinked up questioningly at the couple as he slowly ate, earning loving gazes back from them._

_"He's such a beautiful little boy..." she said softly, stroking Hiei's hair._

_"I wonder where he came from." she added. If only she knew. _

Hiei snapped out of his little flashback. There you are fox. That wasn't a big deal. Kuramam nodded, wanting to speak what was in his mind.

"Hiei-san, you lost your whole family like me" he said, pleading with his tone for a yes. He wanted someone he could surely relate to. However, this reassruing answer didn't come.

"Hell no. Simply beacuse my past may resemble yours in a few ways, there is no way that we are alike." Kurama's face sunk and he looked down at the ground. Without waringing, he stood and walked off.

"And where are you growing?" asked the cold voice that made Kurama tremble in fear. He uttered a simple reply before rushing off so Hiei wouldn't notice his fear.

"Bed." Kurama headed off towards his rool and plopped down on the bed when he reached it. He felt so exhausted now. Apart from being tired, he felt an odd new wave off fear and sadness towards Hiei well up from inside. He felt so scared of Hiei, he was so strong and could possibly have his own ffate resting within the palm of his hand the next minute.

It wasn't just Hiei bothering Kurama lately. It was everything. He felt so lost and scared, not to mention broken and sad. He'd truely never been too happy ever since he'd escaped from Karasu's grasp. He worried about the day Karasu would come back if he ever did. He worried about everything and anything. Hiei becoming close to him and betraying him as had Hikaru. He cursed himself for being such a weak being without strength. He was no more than a reincarnation of a famous theif in the demon world.

Hiei sat on the couch ponering upon his memoriess and Kurama. Why did Kurama always act so scared and sad when he was out of danger. Surely, the fox knew that as long as Hiei breathed he'd kill any demons that tried to come near. Knowing that Koenma in Spirit World, he'd get in trouble if he didn't. It confused him, though, how a simple smile on Kurama's part could lift his mood. He seemed to want to see more of those cheerful smiles rather than the depressed looking frowns. Certainly, Kurama was really quite pretty, he had to admit that. But why did he attrat his attention so much? After all, he was only a stupid, cowardly fox.

Hiei went back to remicising the past. He remembered after the family had taken him in.

_As Hiei grew, he went to school and acted his point as a normal Human boy. He did school work, recieved exceptional grades, and was the fastest guy in Gym. However, Hiei had a horrible temper and was so outwardly cold towards anybody except his parents. _

_Even if the teachers usually kept away from him, he often lashed out him, earning him a good number of detentions along with the ones he got for starting fights withother kids, often innocent ones who happened to get on his bad side. His mother was still happy around him, and although she said she wished he'd behave more, she loved him more or less. _

_Hiei couldn't help it, the agressive nature was a simple quality of the personality. Fire demons had complex personalities. They were very cold and angry, they often started fights with other demons. In Hiei's case, with the humans he hated so much. Still, they did have upsides towards this nature, they were extremly protective of family(more males than females)they were loyal companions when they found a friend they believed to be worthy of their time, and they were quite amourous towards lovers._

_Hiei'd never had a girlfriend. Not once. The basic thing was that all the girls hated him, they thought of him as a creep. It was really that simple. He was very protective of his adoptive family nonetheless.He took karate four times a week at a karate dojo, where his true demon strength showed through. He was quick to gain level in that class with the help _

_Cruel things happened past that time. Haru, the stern but caring adoptive father passed away. He was involved in a horrible accident on the way home from work. Misako was devastated. Hiei found it angering to find yet another gaurdian of his gone. His father, his sister, his mother, now his father. What else?He probably shouldn't have asked._

_His mother fell ill no more than two years later. Her disease was serious, and they said that it was probably uncureable. The treatments offered were quite expensive, and Hiei began to work longer and harder so he'd be able to pay the medical ills for her treatments. It made him more irritable. Kids at school constantly asked him why he looked so tired, and why he never ate lunch anymore. He remembered that stupid question._

_"Are you anorexic or somethin?" had asked one boy Hiei enjoyed calling 'baka maniac' He tried not to eat when he could avoisd it, all the money saved from the food he didn't buy could be put towards his mother's medical bill. Hiei felt constantly angry. Why did he feel that he had to help this stupid ningen woman. Maybe it was simply because she had put up with his bad attitude and been there for him._

_Hiei had walked into the hospitl one day, to find hismother in a horrible stated. He ran over to his mother's bed and stared down emotionlessly at her body. Several IVs were stuck in her arm and a breathing mask placed over her mut. She was extremly pale. As he looked down at his mother, he felt anger towards her. She weighted him down in this world. He could just go to the demon world, but because of her, he had to stay here. He sat at her bedside, glaring at her until she died. _

_After her death, Hiei found no use in remaining in the human realm. They placed him in an orphanage because he had no living relatives. That didn't last long. He took every ct of what he was planning to save up for his ningen realm car and his mother's treatment and ran to the demon realm, stopping every so often along the way to get food and what not. _

_After he reached the demon realm, he theived randomly and slowly improved in stature, seeking power, strength and speed as his three main wepons in fighting. He had a very nice sword he trained and became skilled with in a few months. Still, he wanted to become stronger. He heard somewhere about a Jagan implant, and tracked down the guy, blackmailing him into getting an implant. _

_From there on out, his strength nearly tripled from what it had been. He trained hard and long to master use of the Jagan, and got training in a techinique for fire demons, revolving around calling flames from the demon realm and using them as weapons. His preferred wepon was still the sword, but he became very skilled in the use of his technique. _

_As he became stronger, he strengthened the ways he theived, and although he wasn't a theif on the most wanted list yet, he became well-known. They called him 'Forbidden Child' because of his extremely clod nature, even colder than that of a usual fire demon. They all knew how dangerous he was, cold, not hesitant to kill someone who got in his way. He'd never had a lover, and he wasn't interested in one. He was so cold, the biggest theif after Youko Kurama, who was still alive at the time._

_Hiei hated Youko Kurama, they'd met before, and it hadn't been pretty. The lone theif couldn't help but be annoyed by this fox. He hated him, and they constantly got into fights. The rivalry between them was legend. Eventually, Youko had died, and surprisingly, it hadn't been Hiei who killed him, as predicted by numerous people in the demon world. _

_Eventually, Hiei got sick of theiving in the demon realm, and theiving itself. He went back to the human world and became no more than an aimless, cold wanderer. _

Yeah, and that was what had led him up to here. Those years had seemed so long and drawn out. It had to have been twenty years ago. Demons didn't age like humans. It made Hiei wonder what demons were supposed to all their lives. Eventually, every demon dies, but the general lifespan is over one hundered times longer than the oldest living human. Were all demons supposed to find lovers just to occupy that time. Youko Kurama had told him that.

He snickerd. That bastard could never be correct in saying that. Hiei was perfectly fine without a love.

Kurama sat in his bedroom, looking out the window. It had become late, and he felt more awake than ever. Darkness had fallen, and Kurama felt the bitter cold mountian draft come in as he opened his window. He greeted the breeze hapily. Living this close to the mountians, you often get used to such cold conditions. He climbed quickly out of the windowand shut it behind him, careful to leave it unlocked for when he returned. He wanted to be able to go out without Hiei noticing. He wanted to clear his head more or less.

He headed towards the dark woods and entered quickly, scanning for any sign of life before he entered. He felt tense tonight, and if someone was out here, the was no way he could stay around without freaking him out.

The forest clearing was well known to him. He often enjoyed to come here and simply relax, it made him feel oddly safe, and this was something he rarely felt. He crept into the clearing and quickly sat down in the grss as soon as he was sure that nobody was there. He looked around, it was truely a beautiful place. Weeping willows, oaks, and other forest trees stood like guards around this clearing, and next to Kurama lay a patch of red roses.

He took one and focused on it getnly. It held so much relevence to him, yet, he had no idea why. He scrutinized the details of it as he held it, ignoring the thorns pricking him as he held it. A shoft whisper of the wind made him turn his gaze up. Emerald orbs immidiately widened in fear, shock, and surprise.

"...Hikaru?"

* * *

MUHAHAHAHAHAHA! CLIFFIEEE

Me: Yay! It's don! And I had no deaded writer's block this time. I had a lot of fun on this chapter, and as you can tell, I have really altered Hiei's past from what it truely is. What I'm also happy about it that this chapter is longer than my last! Now you know how he's a high school dropout. I really do hope that you liked it, for this is why I write this. Please, any opinions, including criticism, are welcomed. I won't mind unless the review is a downright flame, either because someone's mad at the yaoi, or mad about how Kurama's being treated. Please review.


	13. Chapter 13

_**Enemies from the start, lovers until the end**_

Me: Hello minna-san! Shall I just get right in to the disclaimer and the thanks to the reviewers so you can get on with your reading stuff?

**Disclaimer:** Togashi-san's ideas are all his. They will never be mine nor will I claim them to be. However, Shin, Hikaru, and Akushitsuko are my creations. I know it's almost never a problem. But I swear, if I find even a shred of that plagiarized, I won't be happy. I worked hard on creating those three characters, so I won't tolerate stealing.

**Warning: **Yaoi, and pretty much outright meanness to certain characters. I know the normal Kurama lovers would be at my throat for this. Not only because of the yaoi, but also because I am really cruel to Kurama in this story. If that doesn't sound appealing to you, get your but out of here. Shouldn't you have read my warnings in earlier chapters anyways?

**To the Reviewers:**

**Nyte Kit **

I'm glad you like how I had Hiei's past work out. You can't leave Yomi and Kuronue out of things. Although I did change it, they still seem essential in a certain way. I dunno, something about them perhaps… You don't really sound mean when you say I have absolutely horrible grammar. I think it's a disorder of mine, and I'm really bad at it. Seriously, if I read my grammar in the story I would miss over stuff word didn't catch even when it smacked me in the face. I think it would be really cool if you could be beta for me for the story. I think it's something I'd really need in the story. Thank you so much for taking your time and putting so much thought into your reviews.

**Lazy Fat Kitsune**

Cliffies are bad… Sorry, but I guess it is what keeps people hooked, right?Thank you for reviewing

**Red Kitsune Flames**

Yep, thanks for reviewing!

**Evene**

Yes, you really did help a lot. I hat the fact that I'm horrible at grammar. Alas! It is something I'm going to try and improve upon. Thank you so much for reviewing again. I really love that you always give me a nice review. I like how you tell me what you liked and what you didn't. It really does help.

**Kurama-Hieigirl25**

I'm glad that you like Hiei's past. Thank you for reviewing.

**Kyo's Little Koneko **

I'm mean aren't I? Thank you for reviewing.

**LoversPastForgotten**

Kurama and Hiei make such a great couple, don't they? Lol, thank you for reviewing.

**Lol **

Evil cliffhangers… Maybe I should get some horror music for that. School sucks, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to update. I really hate it. Especially English, I absolutely hate learning it and I get way too much homework. I never really thought about Karasu being in disguise, to tell you the truth. It's surprising a reviewer saw something not even I saw. I'm really stupid I guess. Thank you for reviewing, and I hope you have a nice day as well.

**BlackRoseVixen05**

I'm glad that you liked it. Thank you ever so much for reviewing consistently. I love it!

Chapter 13 

A gentle wind blew across the two, and they just stared. Hikaru stared fondly, Kurama, fearfully. He was scared, that was it. Hikaru not only sensed it, but also saw the fear within he depths of Kurama's eyes. He saw fear masking sadness, sadness masking anger. Kurama was frozen to the spot, unable to move. The look on his face saddened Hikaru so. He gently walked towards him, hands outstretched in an inviting way.

He backed away at this gesture, and out of habit nowadays, Kurama raised his fists into a defensive position. Hikaru blinked softly, a sadness overcoming him. He'd lost Kurama's trust, it looked like. He gently whispered out.

"Kurama, please. I promise I won't hurt you." Kurama had fallen onto his knees when he said that, Hikaru continued to cautiously approach him at a slow pace. Kurama began to tremble, tears fell from his eyes and splashed onto the ground below.

"Listen... Kurama. I need to talk to you about something. You remember the day you thought that I had betrayed you, correct?" he asked. This only made Kurama sob harder. Kurama shrunk back even more as Hikaru tried to take another step towards him.

"Thought you betrayed me? I don't understand what you try to get across by saying that." Kurama wanted so dearly for that not to be true. But he felt that there was no other answer. Jade eyes unsuccessfully tried to blink back tears as he stared down at the ground. It hurt him so much to believe that the one person alive in this world he loved hated him in return. This may not be true, but it was what Kurama truly believed.

Sad tears flowed faster down his pale cheeks, and he shut his eyes tight, wishing his usual wish, that he could wake up and realize that it had all been a horrible nightmare.

When Hikaru reached the redhead's side, he reached down and gently put a hand on his shoulder. As usual, he flinched away naturally and whimpered softly as a wave of memories hit him with the effect of a ton of bricks. Hikaru bent down to Kurama's level and wiped some tears away.

"Please Kurama, I know you probably hate me as of right now, and I don't blame you for it. But please, just listen to what I have to say. I promise that Karasu won't come."

"Yeah, right" muttered Kurama under his breath. Hikaru looked down, hurt by the angry remark. He gently slid his hand under Kurama's chin and gently lifted his head so they could look each other in the eyes. Wet tears splashed onto Hikaru's palm as Kurama began to cry harder, shutting his eyes tightly once again.

"Please believe me Kurama, I'd never do anything to hurt you. I only want what's in your best interest, I want to see you happy again, Kurama." Said boy sniffled and glared up at Hikaru, tears still streaming from his eyes, he screamed

"Yeah! Sure I believe you!" Without thinking, he swung the rose in front of him and conjured a whip. Kurama lashed out at Hikaru again unexpectedly and cut him across the shoulder. He fell to the ground and buried his head in his arms as he sobbed, "I hate you Hikaru!"

Hikaru stood a few yards away, clutching his shoulder while trying to hold back tears that threatened to spill. He must be strong for Kurama, he mustn't cry. The words Kurama had yelled hurt him more than any weapon ever could. He collapsed onto the ground and summoned up the courage to crawl weakly over to Kurama and lay his head next to the boy's

"I'm sorry for making you so sad, Kurama. I really didn't hurt you as believe. But still, it's all my fault you were hurt that way." Kurama looked at him.

"How can you say those kind of things, Hikaru? You hurt me, and yet you say that you didn't, yet you are still responsible." Kurama turned his back on Hikaru as a fresh wave of tears hit him; it felt so painful to have to talk to him again. Hikaru gently reached out towards the fox desperately.

"Kurama... I swear I didn't do it. Karasu wanted to trick you. It wasn't me who hurt you like that." he whispered. Kurama shuddered and took a few steps away from him; this only made the boy sadder than before.

"Just go, Hikaru. I hate you, can't you see that?" He wanted so badly to just scream out 'I love you' over and over. He hated having to say those types of words towards Hikaru. He'd just have to accept the fact Hikaru didn't love him. Hikaru's eyes widened and he ran up to Kurama, grabbing him within a tight embrace, he resorted to begging to try and win over Kurama. Tears flowed unchecked from his eyes now, but he didn't care. The pain inside was too much to bear for him.

"Please, Kurama. I know that it's hard for you to believe me, but you have to! I love you so much Kurama, just please, please forgive me." Kurama broke away from the embrace, tightening his grip on his rose whip. Desperation inside of him still pleaded with his being to accept that declaration as the truth. But Kurama was scared, scared that if he ran back into Hikaru's arms that he'd be hurt again. The wounds from last time were much too painful for him to overlook this betrayal.

"Hikaru, JUST GO!" He said, lashing out with the rosewhip. Hikaru was cut across the chest, but he could care less. He stood up as soon as Kurama drew back and looked him straight in the eyes again, pleading one last time with him. Kurama's angered expression did not break at this, nor did his sad, yet determined eyes. Hikaru sighed and gave it all up.

"Fine, Kurama. I'm not going to force you to forgive me if you don't want to. I'll leave. Just know that all I want is you happiness. Just be happy and that'll be good enough for me." He then disappeared into thin air, if he hadn't been there at all in the first place. Kurama fell to his knees and sobbed into his arms. He longed to be held by Hikaru and experience the joy he had when he was around him forever, but his instincts told him otherwise. It hurt so much when these two feelings clashed, Kurama felt unable to bear it.

Hiei watched Kurama from up in a tree, an odd sort of expression on his face. So, that was the person Kurama had spoken of. He didn't seem like a traitor. Was it possible that he really hadn't wronged Kurama, as he had spoken of? Certainly, Kurama couldn't allow himself to believe that. He watched with almost sympathetic expression as he watched the boy cry. Slowly, he approached the depressed fox, extending a hand to his shoulder to make his presence known.

Kurama didn't care that Hiei had touched him; he didn't really care about anything at the time. He greeted in a weak voice "Hey Hiei, what are you doing here?" Hiei let his hand linger on his shoulder while he answered.

"I'm here because I was looking for you, idiot. I see you managed to summon the rose whip." Kurama didn't stir on the ground as he spoke, but replied back

"You knew that I could summon plant weapons? Why didn't you tell me before? As I believe you told me, you were training me with a sword until you knew my true abilities."

"Yeah, I knew, but I wanted you to figure it out for yourself. It doesn't help if I just tell you. It seems that you have quite a fighting instinct when provoked, am I right?" Kurama didn't take the liberty of answering this question. He moved a little ways away from Hiei so that the contact from hand to shoulder was broken and laid down to stare at the sky. He chose to ask another question.

"Why do people have to be so cruel Hiei?" he questioned, tears streaming onto his already dampened cheeks. He stared up into the endless black night sky tainted with stars. Hiei lay next to him and stared up as well, as if trying to figure out what was there. He then answered, choosing his words carefully as it spoke.

"Kurama, I don't know. Perhaps, it's in our nature, human and demon to be cruel." Kurama nodded and made a soft sort of noise in his throat signaling that he had understood what Hiei had said. Hiei heard a loud sob and the sound of large, wet tears falling to the grounds.

"What's bothering you fox?" He asked, sitting up and surveying the distraught boy. He really didn't expect an answer from Kurama; it was rare to get such things as answers from Kurama without having to make a promise to him or threaten him. Hiei wasn't in the mood to do either tonight.

"Why, Hiei? Isn't it supposed to be true that there's at least one thing in your life that makes you happy? Something that helps you keep going when things get hard? Why is it that whenever I find something I care about, or someone I love, it gets taken away?" Tears flowed freely down his cheeks as he spoke, and it left Hiei to wonder why he was telling him this kind of stuff. Maybe Kurama didn't have anyone else to talk to about this. But seriously, Kurama didn't trust him. He wasn't supposed to trust him. Hiei tried to move closer to Kurama and gently wipe away the tears, but it only seemed to succeed in bringing more.

He shut his eyes again and sobbed softly. Hiei only blinked.

"I love Hikaru so much. I want it to be true that he really loves me. But how can I except that when he used my love for him against me last time?"

He threw himself at Hiei and clung tightly to his shirt before he continued on.

"I don't know what to do Hiei. I feel so out of place, so scared, so angry. It's my entire fault, isn't it? There must've been something I did that earned me this. I want so badly for this to just go away, Hiei. I don't care about living anymore; and I could care less if the next time I fall asleep I find myself to have died. I feel so useless, and what's even worse is what you tell me is entirely true. I am stupid and pathetic, I don't even deserve to live."

Hiei wasn't used to going comfort in that sort of way. It made him happy to know the fox was coming to him with all his problems. Did he really deserve to die though? Sure, Hiei often times called him stupid, pathetic and sometimes even worthless, but did that really mean he shouldn't live?

What Kurama wasn't seeing were the good things about him. He had such a gentle kindness towards people who he had decided weren't a threat, and he didn't doubt that he'd gladly give his own life for one of a companion. He remembered how Kurama would always make tea of food for him when he could. Kurama was really pretty as well. Also, he HAD offered Hiei a place to live and blankets at night that He knew Kurama had taken off of his own bed.

Yeah, Kurama did have blankets at night, but the ones he used were so thin compared to the ones he had given up. Every so often when he watched over Kurama while he was sleeping he say the boy shiver. It made him feel guilty in a way. Kurama had such a great and kind personality underneath all this fear; it really made Hiei reconsider the fact of him actually being Youko's reincarnation.

He was so much unlike Youko in many ways. It wasn't only physically, the thin, pale; redhead could be called practically sickly. Hiei was sure Kurama barely ate enough to sustain himself. Youko had been a lot healthier looking. His skin, although pale as it was could be considered healthy enough. Those amber eyes had always seemed more alive than Kurama's seemingly dead green orbs.

Yes, Kurama was sure much more different than Youko. It seemed the only thing they shared in were the fact that their names were practically identical and they shared the same spirit. Hiei almost regretted the day Kurama gained back his memories. Not only would he lose the innocence and kindness the human form offered, but they would also be enemies again. He felt a pang at the thought as he gazed down at the boy who still clung to his shirt. He felt the odd urge to hug him. He desperately desired to chase away Kurama's insecurities with a friendly motion.

Kurama was just keeling there clinging to Hiei's shirt. He didn't realize half of what he was doing or where he was, he just felt so lost, like he needed someone to count upon. Seeing as Hiei was the only one here now, he really had nowhere else to turn, even if most of his instincts urged otherwise. Softly, he leaned against his chest and leaned his head against it, trying to calm himself. A hand went around his shoulders and pulled him a little closer so Kurama would have more support. The fox glanced up at him with teary eyes and managed a little fake smile.

For now, Hiei would be a friend towards Kurama. What did it hurt until Kurama regained his memories? He gently gave Kurama a friendly hug and was surprised when Kurama returned the embrace hesitantly after trembling a little and thinking about it. He then stood and smiled sadly at Hiei.

"I'm sorry I'm so much trouble Hiei. I really must be a nuisance. I'll try and become stronger for you so you don't have to protect me." He looked down at the ground, clutching the rose that had long since transformed back from the whip back to a harmless flower. He surveyed it with the utmost attentiveness, as if to try and figure out a mystery about it. Maybe he could become stronger with this. He truly wanted to prove to Hiei that he wasn't useless.

He then turned and began to walk away, as if to accent the point that he was truly sorry. But a rough hand stopped him before he could do so. He turned his gaze back to the demon who was lightly touching his shoulder.

"Kurama, you aren't too much trouble. Let's just go, okay?" he said in a tired voice. Kurama hesitated and then nodded. Hiei joined him at his side and they walked back in silence. The fox didn't know what to say. As he looked over the boy walking next to him, he pondered upon the odd feeling of safety and security he felt when he was around here.

Really, he couldn't help it that he felt safe around him. Hiei had saved him more than once, and he dared to believe that Hiei wouldn't harm him. This odd sense of security clashed painfully with the feelings of tonight and his instincts. He'd learned not to trust people over the years. Even if Hiei had saved him many times, he still couldn't bring himself to fully trust and believe him. The scars from Hikaru were still too painful to have healed. A harsh voice interrupted his thoughts.

"What do you think you're looking at?" Hiei asked as he realized that Kurama had been staring at him for quite some time now.

"Nothing." The redhead replied quickly as he averted his gaze back down to the ground and wandering back to his thoughts.

He felt so odd around Hiei. Not only was there the security around him and the insecurity as well, but also it felt to Kurama that there had been some sort of connection to Hiei. It was almost as if he had known Hiei well years before he had made his appearance. It had almost been three months since they had first come face to face that rainy night. It just goes to show you how much time really does fly by. He could remember that night as if it were yesterday.

_He had simply been taking a walk. The rain was bone chilling and you could see your breath in front of your face if you exhaled. It wasn't that Kurama was immune to the cold, but he liked taking walks outside, and if he didn't want to meet people out here at this time, the smart thing to do was take a late night walk. He was abruptly jerked to reality when his body collided with Hiei's and thanks to his 'wonderful' sense of balance; he was knocked into a deep puddle._

_The figure glared down at him as an odd jolt ran through his body. Who was this man? Hiei's glare seemed to darken as Kurama looked up at him quietly; he shrunk back out of habit._

_"Watch were you're going, baka!" The dark figure growled ominously. The glare he was receiving from him made him want to run. He was vaguely aware of the words coming out of his mouth._

_"Gomen Nasai" he repeated again and again. He turned without giving hint of a farewell and walked off. Kurama was left to shiver in the puddle he had fallen into. _

Yes, that meeting had been so out of the blue. Who would've expected the two boys would be spending practically every moment awake with each other after all of this?

Hiei quietly observed the fox while he was deep in thought. Every gentle curve clashed with the outline of his bones that you could see because of him being so thin. His garments hung loosely off his body; it didn't help improve the fox's wan sort of look. His skin was extremely pale from the lack of sunlight, and it only contributed to his image.

Apart from that, Kurama looked really pretty. His crimson red hair was long enough to go past his shoulders, a graceful and beautiful attribute. His eyes were a striking feature, and Hiei guessed that if there were any sort of life in them, they would've caught his attention even more than they did now.

Kurama looked back at Hiei for a little bit and their eyes met again. They lost their thoughts for a single as they stared, not knowing what to think or say. The gaze was broken when Kurama quickly averted his eyes, shaking his head at some unknown question. They began to walk again and kept their eyes off each other. Hiei gazed up at the stars, forcing away the alien feeling that had come to play in his chest again.

"Do you want to take a walk around here before we go back inside. I understand that you'd enjoy it, seeing a you're at more at ease in the outdoors." He asked. Kurama looked down before he answered the question.

"Yeah, I guess so." He said, staring down at the ground. Hiei turned to look at him. His voice had lacked no emotion, even less than usual. It had sounded so flat and empty.

"Fine, I'll race you. Where shall we race? Maybe that huge Sakura that's back there?" Hiei really wasn't interested in races but it sometimes cheered humans up. It was some sort of game, maybe?

"No thank you, I'd prefer to walk." He replied. His gaze hadn't been raised from the place it had been a few minutes ago and his voice was still pretty much devoid of any emotion.

"C'mon Kurama. Stop acting stupid and just race. It might cheer you up." Kurama sighed and nodded.

"To the Sakura tree then?" he asked as Hiei positioned himself to start running.

"Yeah. Ready now?" he asked as Kurama got in his position to start running. He saw a distinct flicker of determination in the emerald orbs.

With an unspoken one-word phrase, they burst off at the same time. Kurama was putting all his will into it, not to mention he was running faster than he ever had before. He smiled a little into the wind blowing at his face. It felt really good to be able to run freely like this for leisure.

Hiei took his time; he was sure that if he used all of his power he'd surpass the fox quickly. He didn't want to have to explain where he got his near impossible speed. For now, he'd keep his pace near par to Kurama's. Kurama suddenly sped up. Leaving Hiei in the dust. Maybe he wasn't going to run as fast as he could, but he sure as hell wasn't going to let him win this.

Still, somehow Kurama managed to beat Hiei by a few seconds. The fire demon smirked at the panting fox. He probably shouldn't have underestimated Kurama's abilities. Well, he knew where Kurama got that speed from now. Kurama took a step forward and tripped over his own two feet, just his luck, right?" Hiei moved forward and caught him quickly.

Kurama gazed up to Hiei gratefully, his eyes sparkling like they had back before he had any knowledge of demons. He felt so happy. That race had certainly done well to cheer him up, and for now, he had forgotten about Hikaru and everything else.

"You didn't really try to go as fast as you could have, did you?" asked the fox. Hiei and Kurama's eyes met as they stared into the other's depths. Again, they were lost from what was going on currently.

Hiei wasn't able to comprehend the feeling of staring into those emerald depths that were happy for once. He'd never seen Kurama this happy before. I was true about what he had guessed. The happy sparkle within those emerald orbs made him look all the cuter, an angelic little smile on his face to complement it. He gently pulled Kurama onto his feet and hugged him without knowing what exactly he was doing as of now. The redhead didn't react to this. He didn't tremble, nor did he lean into it.

"Oh, how cute Foxy and Forbidden in love. And after all these years we all thought you were mortal enemies." That cruel voice interrupted the two and pulled them from their reverie. Akushitsuko and Shin leapt down from the tree. Hiei snarled and released Kurama from the embrace.

"We aren't in love, he just tripped." He informed the two. Kurama stood without words, the sparkle in his eyes had disappeared and he now stared blankly at the two. He didn't understand the words that had just been spoken. Why had the referred to Hiei as 'Forbidden' and what it was supposed to mean 'And after all these years, we thought you were mortal enemies'

"Why do you insist upon killing Kurama?" he asked tensely. From this, he earned a chuckle.

"Well, there are many reasons. For one, Kurama was always a huge burden he isn't able to take care of himself. Even now, there is still a large bounty on him. Our choices are to kill him, or just to find someone who's willing to pay a larger price for him. Many demons would love to own him, seeing as he's got a beautiful young human body. Now that I think about it, that might be the better thing to do." Hiei snarled and clenched his fists. How could they talk about Kurama like he was some sort of object just to gain money off of?

They smirked at the look on his face with amusement.

"But then again, the bounty may be higher on him if he was dead. You see we want Kurama dead for two main reasons. First off, we will gain quite more of a reputation in the demon world for it. Secondly, he's impure, a demon-human mix. When his spirit merged with the human's body, he was tainted for the rest of eternity. He is irreversibly a hanyou now, and nothing that anybody tries to do in any of the three worlds will change it. He may posses the long life of a demon, nor will he age. Plus, once he finds his strength, it will be stronger than a regular human's. But he will always be weighted down by human emotions, and he will be significantly weaker than he had been in his Youko form ever. He'll also be very susceptible to illnesses, human and demon. We're just taking the option that pays off most. Let me tell you, forbidden one, he is better off dead. There is no life for him to live in this world because he'll outlive anyone he finds. There is no life for him to live in the demon world either, for demons hate such tainted creatures. He won't find a mate, nor will he ever truly find happiness. If we don't do this, it's likely he'll commit suicide anyways."

He chuckled again and added onto it. "You've realized how sickly Kurama looks, ne? Not only is it because he doesn't eat or go outside enough, but he is actually more susceptible than even a human at catching a disease. It happens when a demon sprit is merged with a human body. The immune systems don't seem to mix well, so he's able to catch diseases a lot easier. Not only that, but he can catch both human and demon diseases, whereas regular humans usually can't catch demon illnesses at all.

Shin rushed forward and grabbed Kurama, before Hiei could do anything about it. Kurama screamed and tried to struggle out of the iron grip. Hiei ran over towards them and was sent flying back by a strong barrier that Shin had placed. Kurama's eyes widened as Hiei struggled again and again to break the barrier. Sometimes he would throw himself at it, and others he would try and break through with his sword. All these attempts were fruitless and it only provided as entertainment. Kurama panicked and struggled harder, clutching the rose he had previously turned into a rose whip.

He escaped the grip miraculously and managed to conjure the rose whip again with intense focus. He swung it at the distracted Akushitsuko. He smirked and grabbed the whip and tearing it out of Kurama's grip. With that, he tore it in half and stomped it into it into the ground. Kurama's eyes widened as he was tugged closer to Akushitsuko's now cruel eyes.

"My, my. Seems as if I've underestimated the hanyou." He said, patting the cheek playfully. But I have a deal to make with you" he said while smirking. He applied a hand to his wound and let blood run onto his hand. He even went as far as deepening the cut with his claws. He then threw the blood at Kurama's face. Kurama found himself paralyzed to the spot. He tried again desperately to move, but found himself unable to.

"You see. I have odd abilities when it comes to fighting. I can shape shift, and I can cause a various amount of side effects with various mixture of my blood. It's quite useful actually. My blood mixed with an opponent's will cause an unbearable amount of pain. You have experienced that before. My blood alone will paralyze, as I see you have already realized. And my blood mixed with the blood of the person closest to my opponent will kill on contact." He smirked and cut across Kurama's cheek, cupping his hand to catch the blood that fell.

"I can kill him, Kurama. If I were to take my barrier down right now and throw the mixture of blood in my hand, Hiei would drop dead and it would be all your fault."

Kurama's eyes widened and he gasped. How could he ever do that to Hiei? He'd never wish such a bad thing upon him.

"We can make a agreement, Kurama, if you come with me willingly and follow my orders I'll spare Hiei's life. But if you choose not to comply, I'll have to take you by force and kill Hiei in the process. Now I'm going to release you from the paralyzing spell, and I want you to tell me if you're going to cooperate."

With a wave of his hands, Kurama was freed. He looked close to tears.

"I promise you I'll do anything you tell me to, please, just don't hurt Hiei. The demon smirked widely.

"Good choice. You're coming with me. You're going to walk as well. I don't Shin's in the mood to carry you all the way there." He grabbed his wrist roughly and let his barrier fell. Kurama winced slightly and took another look at Hiei.

Hiei had collapsed in his attempt to make it past the barrier. But he immediately leapt up and ran towards Kurama. A dagger at Kurama's throat stopped him. The redhead felt himself almost choke at the pressure on the knife on his throat. This was enough to make Hiei retreat a little.

"If you take another step towards him, I'll slit his throat right here. Besides, Kurama hates you and doesn't want your help, right Kurama?" Kurama's eyes widened. How could he possibly say those words to him? He was reminded Hiei would be killed if he didn't comply.

He heard a telepathic voice in his head "If you do not say yes Kurama. I could always just kill him now. I think it would be quite entertaining to watch him die, don't you think?

"Hai" he said, keeping his gaze aimed down at the ground.

"You heard it, now leave before we decide to kill you as well." Hiei stared unbelievingly at Kurama. This wasn't Kurama; he'd never say something like that, never. Even the fact that Kurama was frightened of him kept the facts unbelievable.

"Kurama, you idiotic fox. That's supposed something Youko would say. I supposed I was wrong in assuming you two were different." And with that, he disappeared. Kurama thought he saw a tear well up in his eye, but it may have been a trick of the moonlight.

Akushitsuko smirked and gave Kurama's arm a rough tug. "Shall we go then?" he commanded, rather then asked. His crimson tresses were picked up by the forlorn wind as Kurama felt the urge to cry again. How could he have been so happy not even ten minutes ago, and now feel so angry and sad. Kurama nodded dejectedly, only one thought going through his head.

_Hiei…… I'm sorry…_

Me: Well, I'm not very nice, am I. Overall, though; I want to know what you think of it. I did try and work really hard on this one, and it is certainly a little longer than the last. What do you think of Akushitsuko's powers? I've been thinking about them forever, and I'm really happy with what I came up with. No, they aren't like Gama's. The blood itself if what causes the reactions to it in opponents, Gama's was a receptor for curses. It's also given different results when you mix it with the blood of various people. I think it's a really cool power! So, please, whether you like it or not I want to know. Suggestions are greatly accepted and I'd love it if I got some pointers


	14. Chapter 14

_**Enemies From The Start, Lovers Until the End**_

Me: Well, here you are! I hope you enjoy this chapter. I won't be doing disclaimer anymore, since you've had the last thirteen chapters to hear that this. You should all know very well I wouldn't ever own any rights to Yuu Yuu Hakusho. Now, I shall thank the reviewers. Special thanks to **Nyte Kit **for being the beta!

**Lazy Fat Kitsune**

Yeah, I am mean. But lol, I'm glad I'm not alone that I enjoy seeing Kura-chan tortured. Yes, I think I'm sadistic… I'm glad that you liked it, and thank you for reviewing.

**LoversPastForgotten**

I'm glad that you like his powers. I think that they're really cool too. I hope I was able to create two nice villains, seeing as I sucked at it last story. Seriously, looking back on that thing, I feel embarrassed for even thinking I should post it. The chapters are short, it lacked a shred of a plot, and I had a Mary-sue paired up with Hiei. I wonder why I even got one good review on that thing. Well, I do hope you like this one. Thank you for reviewing, and sorry for blabbing on and on.

**Red Kitsune Flames**

I'm happy that you liked this chapter. I do think it was in character for Kurama to go with them, right? I mean I bet he'd jump off a cliff if he were told to if someone he cared for was threatened. Thanks so much for reviewing!

**Lol **

That's what I love writing best… Lol. Their reactions re so fun to plan out, I can only hope that they're in character enough. Thank you so much for you kind words and reviews. I really appreciate them! Anyways, I am wishing you a nice day as well.

**A-dragon's-beautiful-rose**

I'm really happy that you liked it. Thank you for reviewing, I really am happy that you do!

**Evene**

Well, the only reason probably got better is because of you. I really owe it all to you, because you were always the one to write a well-rounded, constructive critique. It is something rare you see too, it's either a lot of praise or an outright flame. So I really appreciate it, thanks! Also, thank you so much for reviewing from the beginning, (or near the beginning, whichever is correct) up until now, it really helps, and I'm grateful.

**Nyte Kit**

I've been trying to put a lot of work into my chapters lately, so I'm glad it shows. You'll know why Hikaru was here in this chapter, because as many say, noting real goes without explanation. It is a huge breakthrough for Hiei to comfort Kurama like that, since it is Hiei we're talking about. I was actually pretty surprised he did myself. I'm glad you liked it so much and thank you for reviewing consistently. I'm really happy also that you're being my beta for this. It was a really nice offer of you and I really needed it. So thank you a ton!

**Makurayami Ookami**

Hmm, I'm trying to decide whether or not this is the negative thing, 'You're a cruel writer, doing this to Hiei and Kurama' or 'It's sad, and you're mean, but I like it' Well, I still appreciate the review, and don't mind the fact I can't decipher what you mean. I really probably should try and answer reviews at another time, while I'm awake and can understand words better.

**Darksaphire**

Yeah, I'm actually surprised it's sad in a way. But I love writing angst, so it's nice to hear the angst story I'm writing is actually sad. I'll try to bring it along faster, but I can't guarantee that he length will decrease. I swore to myself after I finished the sucky story I'd never have a chapter that was a thousand words again. Thank you for reviewing, and for your suggestions.

**Ryuuie Mizishi **

I'm glad you like it. It's understandable you printed it off to read and lost the title. I'm really glad that you're reviewing. I'm glad you like it so far, and I hope you enjoy how it turns out. Thank you so much for reviewing.

_**Chapter 14**_

Kurama walked along with Akushitsuko pulling him by the wrist and Shin following behind. An empty feeling traveled through his being unlike any other. There was only one time in his life when he had felt so empty inside. The day Hikaru had left him. The initial thought shocked him, but who on this earth could control what they felt after something? He felt so odd around Hiei. Surely, it couldn't be love. He didn't trust Hiei enough for it to be love.

Hiei sat in one of his favorites trees. He felt livid, how could Kurama say that to him? He wasn't supposed to be cold like Youko was, his personality wasn't like that. He was kind, gentle, and quiet. Everything about his personality was supposed to oppose Youko's. Anger flowed through Hiei's very being at the thought of this. How dare he say those words! It really had hurt…

These feelings weren't like anything he had experienced before. When Kurama was happy, he felt happy as well. When Kurama was sad, he couldn't help feeling upset about it. When Kurama was scared, he wanted to be able to chase away all his fears. He wondered what those emotions to be as he watched images of Kurama's smiling face dance through his head. He knew it, there had to be someone behind this who was getting a good laugh out of this. They were taunting him; he knew it.

Wasn't it kind of stupid to say that there was someone behind this who was taunting him? Deep within himself he knew it was just him and stupid emotions. How could he be growing this weak and allowing himself to become friends with a human reincarnation of his mortal enemy? Well, Kurama was really beautiful. Maybe he was just lusting after him. The girly features may just be attracting him.

But how could that possibly be? It wasn't just the fox's appearance he found appealing. Kurama had such a beautiful voice, and he was kind, and he made good conversation when not talking about his past. He shook his head in an attempt to rid himself of his thoughts without success. He couldn't get his mind off the few moments before the two demons had appeared. Kurama's eyes were sparkling so beautifully and it made Hiei ecstatic to find him smiling happily for one. It had felt so good to hug him; the soft body in his arms comforted him.

Hiei pondered upon Kurama's lips. Those lips were the rosiest of color; they looked so soft that Hiei just wanted to pull Kurama to his body and kiss them.

He felt angry once again with Kurama.

"You know, Kurama didn't mean what he said," spoke a voice behind him. Hiei blinked and growled. At first, he thought the voice had come from in his head, but upon a simple inspection, he found a boy had been sitting next to him in this tree.

He nearly fell out of the tree. How did this bastard know what had happened to Kurama? He looked to be a regular human; short black hair and blue eyes. The recognition took a while to sink in.

"You were the guy who was with Kurama earlier." Hiei commented in a pessimistic tone. This was the guy Kurama had been talking about. The raven-haired boy nodded.

"Yes. My name's Hikaru, and I believe I owe you an explanation. Am I correct?" He said in a kind tone. For some reason, it reminded Hiei of Kurama's rare, yet still kind tone. It really annoyed Hiei in a way. The boy had appeared out of nowhere claiming he understood what had happened to Kurama, and that Hiei was wrong about him. No, that really pissed him off! People were obsessed with the idea that they were always correct about everything tried his patience easily.

"Listen, I know what you believe is quite understandable. If I were you, I'd believe it too. But please, Kurama was threatened. He was forced to say that." the male informed.

"Somehow, I can't find myself to believe that. You are the person who originally betrayed Kurama, so do I really have any reason to trust what you say?" Hiei retorted.

"This is what I've been trying to say to Kurama. I didn't betray him. I was foolish, and it led to my death. The night I told him how I felt Karasu had been watching us and I got in trouble. To put it simply, Karasu killed me and had one of his other servants pose as me." Hikaru said. Hiei found this quite unbelievable, but still found reason to speak to him rather than kill him on the spot for it.

"Then how are you still here?" he questioned. It was true. Usually after you died you went to the Spirit World, so why was this boy still walking around here?

"That… Well, if you know of ghosts, just think of me as one of those spirits who has unfinished business, as they call it. Koenma has given me a body on this Earth for a limited amount of time to help Kurama. Before I was killed, my only wish was to get Kurama out of harms path so he could be happy for the rest of his life. Until I can help him get over me, there is no reason I see to leave just yet."

Hiei glared. Was this story really true? There was a way to find out.

"Fine then. I'll believe you if you let me search your memories to see if they are true. I can tell modified memories from real ones, and if you try and keep one from me, I will find no trouble in killing you," Hikaru nodded.

Hiei took off the bandanna warding his Jagan and closed his eyes in deep concentration. He saw several memories of Hikaru staying with Kurama. How on the first night, Hikaru had brought food to the wounded kitsune. There, he saw a young, defiant, and almost healthier looking boy. He was flipping through almost three years worth of memories, and he found himself surprised at some of the last ones.

They really had been in love. As much as Hiei would've denied it before, it became clear to him. He felt an onrush of Hikaru's motions as he saw the memories from the last night they had spent together. He felt almost jealous how Kurama had allowed Hikaru to hug and kiss him as such, and how he responded to his hugs as well. He then saw how Karasu had thrown the knife, and felt Hikaru's emotions rise again at the thought of not being able to keep the promise that he had just made.

_'I promise you Kurama; I'm going to save you, make you free from this prison. Then we can settle down where nobody will ever bother us ever again'_

The promise Hikaru had made to Kurama rung throughout Hiei's head now. He slowly retied his bandanna and opened his eyes to the sad looking boy. It must've been painful for him to see all his memories being pulled unwillingly before his very eyes. He had learned how such memories could affect certain people from the fox.

"Fine," he said to Hikaru. "I believe you. Now tell me where the hell Kurama went and we'll go get him together. To his surprise, Hikaru smile and shook his head slowly. Hiei looked dumbfounded.

"Why the hell not?" he asked. Hikaru smiled a bit more at him before speaking up.

"I told you my time is limited here. Koenma only gave me a few hours, and I only have a few minutes before that time expires. I need to tell you something, Hiei. Kurama cares about you, and I want him to be happy. Take care of him for me and help him be happy, it's all I really wanted. I want you to tell him about me when he's ready, and I also want you to carry out the promise I made to him." Hiei's gaze hardened. He didn't like being ordered around like that.

"Knowing Koenma, he'll buy you more time because he needs Kurama retrieved. And stop ordering me around like that." This only made Hikaru smile bigger.

"I won't. First of all, I can't fight let alone defend myself. I'll just be in the way, seeing as there is no other way I can possibly help you. I bet you know that I once told Kurama I was a spy of the cat demon tribe. Well, I was, but technically speaking, I am only a hanyou as well. My tribe abandoned me when they found that out while I was working for Karasu and he captured me. I never told this to Kurama because I was afraid it would make him believe I was some sort of criminal. Many do not see getting abandoned by your own kind as quite honorable."

This was truly unbelievable. He was a hanyou AND he couldn't fight?

"Well that still doesn't give you the right to order me around. I do what I want and my plans don't include carrying out promises for other people." He replied in his apathetic tone. Hikaru smiled again.

"It isn't something I'm ordering you to do. I can tell that subconsciously, it's something you want to do. I can tell that you're in love with him. I can also see that you're very much in denial about it. Tell him your feelings, don't wait until it's too late and make the mistake that I have made."

"You can's say tha—" Hiei began to say, but was cut off when he turned his head to find Hikaru had disappeared. Darn it! He could heave at least told him where he would be able to find Kurama. Grumpily, he leapt from the tree to search for the fox.

Kurama walked along with them. He was beginning to grow numb with cold. The path had taken them far up into the mountains and snow swirled across their gaze a well. It didn't seem like the demons were really feeling the effects of this biting arctic weather. Kurama was beginning to feel the affects of it, though. He's always been pretty good at dealing with cooler temperatures, but this was almost unbearable. He stopped walking for a moment and wrapped his arms around his body, trying desperately to find more warmth. His breath came out in steamy clouds as he shivered. What he wouldn't give for Hiei's warmth right now. His body temperature was really comforting whenever he was cold.

"Come fox, it isn't that much farther." Said Shin, grabbing his wrist as roughly as Akushitsuko had earlier and dragging him along. A cave came into view and Kurama found he was being pulled in the direction of it.

It was darker in the cave, but considerably warmer. There were some signs that they had been living here for the past few days, but it was nowhere near homely. There were remains of a fire that had been there previously, and Shin's Kusari-gama were in a corner. Besides that the cave was absolutely bare. Kurama sat down and sneezed a few times. Maybe he'd reacted to this cold a bit worse than he had estimated that he would.

"Poor Kurama has a cold?" Asked Akushitsuko in a snide tone. Kurama looked down at the cave's floor and didn't reply. He didn't want to be here and he refused to talk to either of them. For some reason, they were similar to Karasu, but reminded him nothing of him at the same time. Major difference? Karasu had always tried to force himself upon him when he was around. These guys were obsessed about killing him.

"Well, Shin, I need to go out to town and get some food. Stay here and make sure Kurama doesn't try to run. In the meantime, please think about what we're going to do with him. He's too much of a burden to keep for a long span of time, so I want your say in the matter as soon as tonight so we can reach our final decision about him" said Akushitsuko, walking out of the cave without a word of farewell to his partner. Shin also remained silent.

Kurama looked over at Shin. He wasn't sure if he preferred staying alone in the cave with him or Akushitsuko. His instincts had told him that at one time he'd be alone with one of them at some point, and it had only increased his sense of restlessness. Shin was glaring cruelly at him now, and he didn't know what to do or if he should back away from this demoralizing glare. Without warning, he stood, walked over to Kurama, and took something that looked like bandages out of one of his pockets.

Gasping and drawing back was the normal reaction for Kurama, but Shin simply grabbed his arms and wrapped one around the each. It felt odd on him for some reason, and he went to tear them off of his arms. Drawing up a hand to do so, he felt an immediate pain in his hand and drew it back to survey it. His hand had begun to bleed severely out of nowhere. He looked to Shin for an explanation he knew he'd only get from this person in particular.

"They're wards, Aku told me he wanted me to equip you with some strong ones so you wouldn't try anything. Don't try and touch them, although they may be hurting your arms currently, but it'll do more harm to you if you try and remove them." Kurama sighed and placed his hands in his lap, ignoring the bleeding one that was beginning to throb painfully. Kurama shivered again and coughed.

Shin looked slightly annoyed and tossed him a blanket. Kurama wrapped it around his shoulders and instantly felt warmer. He looked up at Shin and spoke. He wondered if it was possible that if he just tried talking to him it would ease the horrible feeling he had in his stomach about this.

"You don't talk as much as the other guy. Why is that?" it was a random question, but Kurama wanted to get the thoughts of Hiei off his mind. Shin shrugged.

"I don't know, he seems to enjoy doing the talking more than I do. I suppose one could view it as him being the more sinister person who enjoys intimidating his opponents with words. Not that that isn't a good thing. I just don't prefer to talk as much." He replied. That left the conversation pretty much open-ended. Kurama wanted to continue talking. The pain in his arms was almost overpowering.

"Are you and Akushitsuko friends or lovers or something?" he asked. Shin's gaze, if possible, hardened considerably. But still, he chose his words carefully and answered.

"Well, I wouldn't call it lovers. I am someone who Aku lusts for, not love. You couldn't call us lovers because we don't love in the relationship. It's merely for pleasure. Mates, maybe, but not lovers." Kurama looked over at him and observed his tone and random other things before replying to this.

"From what it sounds like," mused Kurama

"You truly are in love with him" he heard a dark chuckle. A reply back wasn't something Kurama expected, but he received one nonetheless.

"Indeed, I find his personality quite attractive in an odd sort of way, but it isn't how he could ever feel. Aku is like Youko in a way; he lusts, and that is the only thing close to love he goes near. The last mate he had thought they were really in love. When she found out he was only lusting for her, she told him her true feelings and was killed. You see? He'll kill anyone who has such feelings for him"

It felt shocking to know that there was a person who would do something. It made Hiei's personality seem like that of a baby kitten's. It almost made him feel sorry for Shin, having to act how you only acted upon lust when you really loved. Kurama didn't say anything else, thus ending the conversation. Shin was correct in saying that he preferred to stay silent rather than talk. After that, he said nothing else.

Kurama now felt really warm in the blanket, it was lulling him to an almost peaceful. He wasn't currently focusing on the pain in his arms from the wards, and he was in and was almost a state of blissful unconsciousness. Slowly, he fell asleep, wanting to forget about the day's happenings.

He couldn't get Hiei out of his head still, even in sleep. The dreams constantly haunted him throughout the time he slept, images of his face, and dreams of being with him.

_Hiei and him sat under tree, cuddled up against each other. Kurama's head rested against Hiei's shoulder as he had his hair stroked lightly. The fire demon looked rather warm, and a light pink tinge was streaked across his cheeks as he petted the crimson locks. Kurama's eyes were fixed on the boy's above him. _

_He couldn't feel much happier than he did now; it had been so long since he had felt this way in someone's arms. It chased every single one of his bad thoughts from his head. Actually, he had pretty much forgotten anything having to do with what was going on for the time being. He didn't have any pain, sadness, or regret. The saddestt feeling in the world seemed alien to the fox, and he was now trying to get used to this new spread feeling of pleasure and delight. _

_Hiei lifted the redhead's chin and stared into the emerald orbs. He brushed a few scarlet tresses and smiled the sweetest smile. It was something so rare to see that Kurama couldn't help but grin widely back. It felt so nice to be held, to be comforted, to be loved. As if just to comfort him even more, those words escaped Hiei's lips. _

_"I love you, Kurama" _

_The phrase alone was enough to send Kurama off into his own little world of happiness and compassion. He slowly leaned in to kiss the pale lips..._

Kurama's eyes snapped open. He was being kicked harshly in the side by someone, and with the realization that it had only been a dream, he felt slightly disheartened, and also angry with himself. He couldn't love Hiei; Kurama wouldn't allow himself to do this. Hiei couldn't be trusted; he kept repeating this in his head. It would turn out just as Hikaru had, and he'd be betrayed again, left to wallow in his sorrow. Maybe he could keep the fire demon as his friend without getting hurt, but certainly not as a boyfriend or anything else.

Akushitsuko bent down and shook him roughly to snap him out of his thoughts. Kurama jumped and cringed away from the touch. He was offered a small plate of food, so he slowly sat up and took it into his lap, not sure whether or not it was safe enough to eat. A glare ceased his questioning and he took a small forkful of it. Akushitsuko looked much too angry to disobey, so he slowly cleaned off the plate forkful by forkful.

Kurama opened his mouth for a minute to ask the dragon a question. "Why are you feeding me? I thought that you wanted me dead anyways, so what would be the point in doing it? I'm only creating more trouble for you if I eat, correct?" Akushitsuko sighed and brushed some hair out of his face before choosing to answer the redhead's question. He chose his words with leisure, unrushed to finish answering quickly.

"Well, as you say, that could easily be true. There still is one thing wrong with it I believe you wouldn't be able to understand. If our purpose is to kill you, we will do so ourselves. If you simply die of starvation, we may get rewards for turning in your body, but we won't gain the reputation we are aiming for if we choose to kill you. If our other option ends up being our chosen, we want you to look at least the tiniest bit healthier so it may turn a few heads. It isn't a good investment to get someone as sickly as you, seeing as many demons would see you as both unworthy and at risk of dieing within a few days anyways."

Kurama looked down at the ground as he ate, taking in what he heard. If this were going to happen, he'd actually prefer to be killed. He couldn't stand such violation again, as his situation had been with Karasu, he'd choose death over that. He remembered how cold and clammy Karasu's hands had been, as he would run them over his bare body.

He'd fight back tears and cries of disapproval, Karasu would only laugh and continue his violation, purely entertained by Kurama's negative reactions and humiliation.

Kurama shivered as he remembered that touch exactly, it had been almost as if an evil ghost were touching him. Pale hands would travel around on his body, choosing a new spot to torment each passing day. Thos cold violet eyes had always scared Kurama, almost as much as the deadly touch. Every time he was touched by those pale hands and stroked by the slender fingers, it felt as if he had been touched by death itself.

He still felt the effects of that touch linger on his body, an odd sort of hot trail left where they had previously touched. Kurama whimpered, feeling the sudden desperation for a really cold, long shower.

"I'd prefer that you kill me," responded Kurama a few moments later, after he had decided to answer to rid himself of those perplexed stares. Akushitsuko laughed bitterly once again.

"I don't believe we ever told you that it was your choice," he said with great amusement before adding, "We are only choosing the option which proves to be the most lucrative for us. Your opinion stands meaningless." Kurama stared down at the ground again. As much as he hated to admit it, he truly needed Hiei right now. He needed badly to be saved from this, for he'd rather be killed than have to suffer another situation analogous to the one he had with Karasu previously.

The idea of suicide sounded inviting if he ever made it out of here. Not only would he be permanently safe from all these enemies and sadness, but also he would rid the burden he put on Hiei. It made him feel sorry he always troubled Hiei so much with things, getting into situations where Hiei was forced to come and rescue him. On an even worse note, Hiei didn't even want to help him. He only did because he had been commissioned by Koenma to do so.

Hiei walked along the snow-covered path, searching for Kurama's scent with his sensitive nose. He was lucky he had thought of this, the idea had come to him when Akushitsuko and Shin first tried to kill Kurama. They had come up here in the mountains specially to kill him in good reason. Nobody could ever hear him scream, and it was unlikely his body could ever be found.

No sooner had he headed in this direction than he caught the slightest whiff of Kurama near a trail leading up a mountain.

Seeing as they could be anywhere around here, Hiei made a hasty, yet careful search of the surrounding areas, slowly tracking the faint scent upwards. He felt scared for Kurama. What if they decided to kill him before he could reach where he was? Although he had often spoken of the fact that he wished Kurama to be dead before, he couldn't imagine if that happened now. The pale, thin fox seemed like a highlight of his once dull life that made things interesting. They were supposed to be people who could relate to each other. Things like this were not supposed to happen to him.

Hikaru had brought up a major point, maybe he did love this fox, or at least he had strong feelings for him. He had hated this fox's guts for the longest time, yet here he was, worrying and thinking about him to a point of unhealthy obsession.

Kurama sat in the cave, enveloped by cloud of grief and hopelessness. Where was Hiei now? That was all he could wonder. At this, many other questions popped into his head. What was going through Hiei's head? Was he doing all right? Was he still mad at what he had said to him?

He prayed to all the gods in the world that Hiei wasn't. He wanted at least the one person in the entire world he had as a friend to be able to forgive him. It was truly all his fault, wasn't it? He asked him self cynically. Hiei had once told him that a true fool reaps his own demise. This must be what was happening here. There were two choices in dying. Either he was going to be killed in a most likely very gruesome way by these two demons, or he'd be sold off to some sadistic demon lord like Karasu where he'd slowly die the painful death he believed he deserved; unloved and unhappy.

It almost brought tears to his eyes. In a way, all he really wanted was to find one place he was happy in and live there for a time. He could care less where it was, how beautiful the nature was, or if it was exactly like his first home.

His dream image, though, was somewhere where his family still lived. He could run and have fun with Yuusuke and Kuwabara like years before. He could then go back to a warm home where his family greeted him and he could cuddle up next to a kinder version of Hiei that he longed for.

Somewhere he didn't have to worry about demons, or what would happen when he regained Youko's memories, how he could no longer be with Hikaru, or what would happen if a person like Karasu ever came around again. He wanted to be free of all of those worries.

Tears rolled down his face as he softly lost his attention staring out into space. He'd give anything to find this had been just a horrible dream. He wished that he'd wake up in his soft bed from years ago. Naturally, his mother would come rushing in inquiring about his mood and asking about the dream. Then she would reassure him it had all been a horrible nightmare and stroke the back of his head like she used to.

What he wouldn't give for a simple happiness, anything at all, the kind touch of a friend, or a hug from his mother, or even a comforting word from Hiei. He felt so horrible inside when he thought back to his mother, he had failed her. If he had been a bit more apt at self-defense he could have saved her. For that he deserved to die even more. It was one of the worst feelings in the world— the feeling that you have failed the one you love most.

He didn't care about the glares from both demons and the jeers about how pathetic he was that he received from Akushitsuko. He let the tears splash onto the ground unchecked without care. He'd give his life for last hug from someone, anyone. He felt so hopelessly lost now that he believed not even the most intelligent person in the entire world could help him out of this endless vortex.

Hiei picked his way carefully higher up the cliff. He was near now, he could tell. Amidst the glacial cold and sting of icy wind and snow, he had pinpointed Kurama's presence, along with Akushitsuko and Shin's. He hoped the fox wasn't too cold. If it hadn't been for his ability to raise his body temperature when he needed it, he would've been in deep trouble, so he worried about Kurama with good reason. He had so much less of a tolerance to extreme temperatures than he did, Hiei worried about the effects it might have on the near human body.

Kurama was trying desperately to fall asleep, Shin and Akushitsuko had fallen asleep against the wall a few minutes ago, but they hadn't been worried about Kurama trying to escape. The sub-zero temperatures were much too harsh for him to bear and Shin had even worked it so he'd feel a displacement in his energy field if he tried to leave and he would wake up immediately.

He was shivering severely now, blanket wrapped tightly wrapped around him, as he tried to avoid the pain in his shoulders where the wards were. The skin around the wards was very sensitive at the time and pained him horribly if he even brushed it with the fabric of the blanket. He winced and tried once again to close his eyes and fall asleep. Still, it didn't seem to work. He had an odd feeling that if he stayed awake, someone would come to save him.

But that was impossible, wasn't it? Nobody except Hiei could survive such rigid temperatures at night without taking shelter, and he highly doubted he'd ever see him again. Kurama was in a daze like situation as he listened to the eerie howl of the wind at the caves mouth. He shivered again as he spotted a darker figure at the entrance, from what he sensed, this 'figure' was staring straight at him. He couldn't see very well, so as a result, he blamed it on hallucinating, and closed his eyes tight, repeating to himself that it wasn't real. It was extremely dark in the cave anyways, seeing as night had fallen long ago.

He heard the soft click of footsteps.

Not real…Not real… Not real…

A soft breath disturbed some of his strands of hair near the back of his neck.

Not real! No, there wasn't anybody there. It was simply impossible! Kurama clenched his fists tighter into the blanket and shut his eyes tighter, trembling uncontrollably.

Kurama felt an arm gently loop around the back or his shoulder blade while another one scooped under his knees to pick him up. He was face to face with familiar blood colored eyes. If it hadn't been for the two other demons in the cave that were sleeping, he would've given a loud cry of joy and flung his arms around Hiei on the spot. Seeing as he wanted them to be able to escape unimpeded, he kept his mouth shut and tried to smile up as happily as he could at Hiei.

He heard a familiar telepathic voice in his head as he leaned into the comfort those warm arms he was cradled within.

"I've come to help you Kurama. I've noticed that demon has an energy field up to try and make sure you don't escape. I can manipulate this energy with my Jagan so that he won't notice, but I need for you to be absolutely quiet. Understood?" Kurama nodded a little and leaned his head against the warm chest, comforted so easily by such a simple thing as warmth.

Hiei smiled happily as he aw the fox do this. He felt like he had that one night a while ago when Kurama had allowed Hiei to keep him warm while he slept. It felt really nice for some unexplainable reason. He didn't know why watching Kurama settle under his warmth made him so happy. He just had to remain silent and hope for both of their sakes that they would go unnoticed.

The smile remained on his face, nonetheless, and he began walking toward the mouth of the cave. This had to be done slowly so Shin wouldn't notice, he kept his energy focused at all time, and his eyes remained on Shin the whole time.

He stumbled; Shin shifted in his sleep but didn't awaken. He thanked Koenma for this and slowly moved on. One little mistake would cost both him and Kurama quite dearly. He prayed for that not to happen as he slowly inched his way forward. Kurama had himself buried in his chest. Not even the sound of his breathing was audible, and Hiei was thankful for that. He actually seemed quite comfortable not making a sound in the position he was in, so Hiei hoped that he would be able to remain that way for the time being.

The next move was his mistake, one that cost him dearly and he knew that he'd regret for a long time after this. A rock he hadn't noticed before came in contact with his foot. With the slight echo caused by this, his concentration with the Jagan wavered, and as if by coincidence, he tripped right over his own two feet. The results were immediate Hiei spilled over and held Kurama tightly to his chest in an attempt to keep him safe from any dangers they may encounter. He couldn't bear to see Kurama hurt more again, and he swore silently to himself that if they wanted to do this, they'd have to pass his dead body first.

He shuddered for one of the first times in his life as he heard the two demons stand and walk over to him. He could feel them kick him hard in the side, and pain erupted through his body. The one thing that scared him most though, was a cold voice questioning him.

"And where do you think you're going with him"

Me: Muhaha I'm done, so there. I'm sorry it took a while, but I promise you, as long as I can get Chapter Fifteen checked over quickly it would be up before Friday. Plus, it's a really long chapter and I have some romance at the end I suppose you'll like. So until next time, bye!


	15. Chapter 15

_**Enemies from the Start, Lovers Until the End**_

Me: Well, here I am, posting two chapters in one day. I finished the other one a week or so ago, but I just finished this one up. It's really long, a bit over ten thousand, so I won't be surprised if I get reviews saying it was too long. Originally, it wasn't going to be this long, and once I saw how long it was, I was about to divide it into two separate chapters. Hmm, I wonder why I didn't. Anyways, I hope you like this, and be happy! There's romance in this one. (I hope that this makes up for how long it is and how much a chore I am guessing it'll be to read it.) Ah well, on with the story!

* * *

_**Chapter 15**_

Hiei had Kurama pulled tightly against his chest, protecting him from the threat of being hurt again. He glared daggers at the two demons standing before them. It may have been a glare that could make any human and most demons submit to anything he ordered them to do, but Shin and Akushitsuko weren't the least but intimidated. He was even angered further when the dragon took a step towards them with a cruel smirk.

Hiei wasn't intimidated. He clutched Kurama even more tightly to his chest and got ready to run if it were necessary to for Kurama's safety. Even though it wasn't in his morals to run away from a fight, he was willing to. It wasn't safe to fight these demons while Kurama was around, possibly sick or injured, certainly in danger.

"Hand him over, Hiei. Would you really want to lose your life for such a worthless hanyou? There is no reason to protect him" It really pissed Hiei off how they judged Kurama so much. These bastards weren't interested in his well being or his health. They would kill him and gain their reward, or if they found the option of selling him off to some perverted demon to be the most lucrative, they would do that.

Kurama couldn't benefit, either way. He had so much potential, but what was the point if he was dead. Demons weren't supposed to kill humans; it was a strict taboo in the spirit world. It was said that once you killed a human, you were doomed to a horrible fate once you life ended. You would rot away in the darkest, worst, and most painful places in the entire universe for all of eternity.

From these rumors, it sounded as if it was even worse than the highly acclaimed to be deepest hell, Limbo. Now that he thought of it, the idea became more likely to occur to him. Knowing how the demons spoke and acted, they had already killed off numbers of humans. It seemed as if Akushitsuko was able to read his very thoughts.

"You know, I am not hesitant to kill Kurama, he isn't counted among the human-killing rule. Even if he was, it isn't as if I would care. I enjoy killing humans. They are a weak and pathetic species, you see, and I find it quite enjoyable to hear their screams of pain and their disgraceful pleas." Hiei's eyes hardened at him. Usually, such a comment wouldn't even turn his head. But for some reason, it made him unbelievably angry to hear people talk of killing Kurama in such a casual way.

Why should he care about it anyways? It didn't concern him if he left Kurama right now and he would have his wish fulfilled anyways, right? When he first came along Kurama, there was nothing more he wanted than the death of that redhead, but now the thought of Kurama lying motionless on the ground on his own pool of blood angered him.

Hiei looked down at the fox within his arms. Kurama clung to his shirt seeking safety and comfort.

There had been a time that Kurama would cling to him merely out of fear of the things around him and simply for the fact that he nothing else to latch onto and hide against. He could feel Kurama trembling in his arms; he desperately wanted that trembling to stop. It was sad in a way to see a being that was once the greatest thief in all of Makai this frightened of someone he could have surely killed if it hadn't been for the unfortunate event of his death years before.

Hiei turned to walk away, before saying "I'm leaving. You may choose to follow, but I swear, if I ever see you again, because I won't hesitate to kill you if you do." With that, he ran at top speed out of the cave before they were able o reply to what he had said to them.

However, Hiei's ears caught the sound of feet running behind him, and he turned around just in time to be able to dodge a direct hit from a chained scythe. That didn't come without a price, though. It had grazed his shoulder none to gently and he began to bleed.

He was thankful it hadn't hit Kurama at least, but he knew that this was going to be a problem. It looked like it was going to be a fight right here and now, and he couldn't just set Kurama down so he'd be able to fight. He debated about this and slowly set Kurama down, asking him if he was up to trying to fight.

Kurama looked a little shocked, and then motioned towards the ward on his arms that bound back his youki. Hiei growled. How had he not noticed those before? He put a hand up to Kurama's arm to try and take one of them off. A burning sensation traveled trough his entire arm, and his hand began to bleed, but he still kept his hand there in an attempt to still try and get the ward off.

A bright flash of light and a soft whimper from Kurama were enough to force him back though. Kurama's arm had begun to bleed rapidly, and Kurama looked very pained at his simple attempt to remove the ward. Shin laughed maniacally before informing Hiei of the ward.

"It's actually quite a useful ward, it originates from the original Megiru seal design. You know, the one that spirit world jails use? It will only come off if I try to take it off, and any other any energy signature it senses will earn a nice wound and a good deal of pain. I believe the more you try, the more you will just hurt Kurama as well"

Hiei wondered how he'd be able to get out of this situation. He couldn't simply ask for the ward to be removed. Not only would it be stooping to quite a low level, but also he knew very well that his wish wouldn't be honored. He growled and looked at Kurama

"Get behind me," He told him. Kurama opened his mouth to protest. It was unusual someone would turn down an offer for protection against a psychotic moron who wanted to kill you. He waited to hear Kurama's voiced protest, wanting to know his reason for refusing.

"But Hiei, I want to help you fight. I want to prove to you that I'm useful. Besides, how are you supposed to fight them? There are two of them and they're both strong enough, as it is. It isn't that I'm saying that you aren't strong enough. That was simply outrageous. Were two against one good? It's impossible Hiei. Please, I have to help you in some way." His voice was pleading, but still determined in the way of wanting to get across his point.

Kurama had always wanted to prove himself to Hiei. He wanted Hiei to know he wasn't weak, and that he could be strong for him. He didn't want Hiei to believe that he was useless, because for some reason, he felt bad thinking that he was completely dependent upon Hiei because he WAS useless.

"No. Just say behind me." He replied in a soft snarl-like whisper. Kurama opened his mouth again to protest, but Hiei interrupted before he was able to.

"You aren't useless, but you aren't very proficient in fighting and I'd rather you not get hurt. Besides, those wards aren't going to do you much good. I'm going to have to find some way of getting them off later, but I certainly can't right now." Kurama sighed and took a step behind him. He felt beyond weak having to rely on Hiei's help once again.

Hiei held his sword at the ready as a bone chilling wind blew across the sheer landscape. Behind him, the fox shivered, breath coming out in warm puffs. If he weren't in this current situation, he probably would have found some way to assure the fox's warmth. But given the circumstances, he probably shouldn't have his attention focused on the redhead. It could always prove fatal to him if he did; the last thing you needed in the middle of a fight was a distraction.

Hiei stood still, waiting for the two to come and attach. He wanted to protect Kurama as best as he was able to, and if he left where the kitsune stood, Kurama would be put in danger.

It wasn't long before another attack from one of those flying scythes came back at him, and he blocked it with ease. But it wasn't as if he was fighting just one, he received another attack from the other demon. He had leapt forward and grazed Hiei's shoulders with his sharp claws while dodging the sword at the same time. Akushitsuko gathered a bit of blood in his hands and slipped it quickly into a bottle in his pocket.

Hiei was suddenly hit with a large combination of attacks, and he found it that he was dodging the numerous attempts to hit him from the kusari-gama while fighting Akushitsuko in hand to hand combat at the same time. Kurama stood off to the side, looking horrified. He wanted desperately to rush into the fight and help Hiei, but he wouldn't go against what Hiei had asked him. He'd no doubt have to face Hiei's wrath later if he did.

His blood splattered across the pure white snow, yet Hiei still continued to fight. Kurama felt dizzy, like he was going to faint. Hiei was only doing this to protect him. Why did he do that? It wasn't like he was something worth someone spilling their blood over him. He felt the desperate need to cry out 'No Hiei! Stop fighting, I'm not worth it!' but it seemed as if his breath had caught in his throat and he was unable to speak. For now, he could only watch the battle unfolding before him with shortened breath and wide eyes.

Hiei was knocked down to the ground and Kurama felt the urge to throw up. Why did he keep getting up to fight, why did he have to do this? Pain like noting else overtook his being. He couldn't imagine what it would be like if Hiei died, much less, Hiei dieing before his very eyes. Who would teach him how to fight? Who would talk to him when he felt sad or scared?

Akushitsuko and Shin were getting sick of fighting the fire demon. He wasn't crying out in pain whenever he was knocked down to the ground, and he kept getting back up. Hiei reminded them of some annoying parasite that's hard to get rid of. With that, Akushitsuko drew out the bottle containing the mixture of his and Kurama's blood and poured some of it into his hands to throw at Hiei. He was sick of toying around with this. There were more important matters than this he had to attend to.

Kurama's eyes widened in recognition at this act, they were planning on killing Hiei. He gave a soft cry, and with out thing, in, launched himself in the direction of the three. His legs seemed to be going too fast for his body to keep up with and he tripped, knocking Hiei out of the way and getting splashed with the blood mixture instead.

As expected, pain traveled throughout Kurama's entire body, and he winced, trying to hold back a loud cry of pain he didn't want Hiei to hear. Hiei stood up and looked at the redhead on the ground, an angry glare on his face. Unbeknownst to him, Kurama had just saved his life.

"What the hell was that for, fox? I thought I told you not to interfere! Are you trying to get yourself killed?" He asked heatedly. Kurama stood up, wincing horribly and closing his eyes so Hiei wouldn't see the painful look within his eyes.

"I'm sorry Hiei. I suppose that I'm not able to see you being hurt without acting. I won't do it again." He moved quickly out of the field of battle, although his instincts urged him to do otherwise.

He collapsed a few hundred yards away and opened his eyes, sending a smirk Akushitsuko's way. That had been the last of Kurama's blood he possessed, and if he wanted more, he'd have to come over here and get it. He guessed that their plans were probably to get rid of Hiei before doing anything with him, simply because anything they wanted to do to him was saved for after Hiei was out of the way.

Akushitsuko clenched his fist. Damn that fox, he'd known that was the last of the blood mixture he possessed. He didn't know any other way to get rid of the fire demon. He surveyed his surroundings. A plan began to formulate in his head, he informed Shin telepathically.

They continued to attack simultaneously providing Hiei a challenge. More blood splattered across the snow as he was slowly chased backward by a bombard of fits and kusari-gama. The attacks were coming so fast all he was able to do was block. He spotted Kurama a little ways away watching him with wide eyes.

He was lost on thought for a moment. Kurama was really a beautiful fox, and a really attractive one at that. He looked at the silky crimson locks that fell past his shoulders and the gorgeous emerald orbs. His distraction was a large mistake, because as he had stated before, distractions proved fatal in fights. He was hit right in the stomach with one of the kusari-gama; blood flew freely from the wound. Kurama's scream sounded far off as his vision blurred badly. He felt his body land hard against something cold and hard. A horrified realization came when he felt the ice crack beneath him and his body slip into the freezing water.

Kurama's eyes widened as he saw Hiei fall into the lake, fear consumed his very being. He forgot about what Hiei had told him to do completely and ran over, screaming his name hoarsely over and over. There was no answer within the lonely wind. He waited for Hiei to surface, it hadn't happened yet. Kurama felt his body begin to tremble.

Hiei felt himself fall through the water, but he was unable to move. He could feel himself tremble and his eyes widen considerably. This was the one thing he drew fear out of. Being part fire, he never particularly enjoyed water. He did have to take showers, and he'd grown used to it. But large bodies of water were one thing he couldn't handle; he always tensed up and was unable to move. He held his breath, knowing he wouldn't be able to do it much longer than a few minutes.

Well, maybe you could say that there was more there than the simple dislike of water. Well, as said before, he was a fire demon, so it wasn't a crime he didn't enjoy the water. There were rumors weren't true that water weakened or killed fire demons, but it was one of the only things fire demons were ever scared of. Hiei felt pathetic. This was even worse than Kurama's fear, it was one thing Hiei never enjoyed to admit.

He couldn't swim, and he had no idea in mind to struggle against the icy wet trap the large body of water posed. He could remember falling in the water when he was very little.

His mother had been very worried, and as soon as she had heard from the frightened and panicking Yukina that Hiei had fallen into a lake, she raced to the spot and scooped the little, sobbing child out of the water. She had been so worried about him, and he remembered her telling him to never go near any large bodies of water again, because water wasn't meant for fire demons, even if he was part koorime. He hadn't needed telling twice, he was too terrified to ever go near a large body of water again.

… It couldn't bee much longer now; there was only a specific amount of time he'd be able to hold his breath…

He almost laughed at the irony of this. He had never expected to die this way; destroyed by the one thing in the world he had ever been scared of. He felt fear and panic cross his being again. He was completely immobile; he was frozen in his original position. He only could see the light from the surface disappearing rapidly as he was almost pulled downwards by some invisible, malevolent force.

Kurama was on the verge of tears. He was pleading with thin air for Hiei to surface again. He didn't realize Akushitsuko and Shin had approached him from behind. Shin put one of his scythes to the back of Kurama's neck as a threat.

"He isn't going to come back. You mind as well accept the fact that he's dead and come quietly." Kurama shuddered as he heard this voice, but fear was replaced immediately with blazing fury. How dare they treat Hiei like that? He had only been trying to save him! He spun around, an odd aura growing around him. His eyes were colder than anyone had ever seen them in this lifetime. The emerald orbs flashed golden dangerously as his ki multiplied twenty times. Any demon within a fifty-mile radius must've cowered in fear at this moment, simply because of the shear size of ki being released into the air. If you were smart, you'd know he probably shouldn't be fooled around with right at this time.

"Get away from me," he said in a dangerous and fuming voice. The wards on his arms smoldered under the intensity of the ki. They weren't strong enough to withstand such power, and they were simply incinerated by the massive amount of energy. The two demons backed away at the intimidating ki. For the first time in Kurama's life, it seemed as if Youko's spirit was making itself known.

These demons had learned in their life that Youko Kurama was a dangerous creature, especially when angry. As if only acting on instinct, Kurama pressed his hands down into the snow and transferred his ki to a small seed that had lain buried. A long and thick vine shot out of the snow stabbed Shin right through the chest.

Kurama didn't even take a second thought towards the two demons. He took a deep breath and leapt into the dark water Hiei had fallen into. Shin coughed up some blood and collapsed onto the ground, a thin line of blood running from his mouth. Akushitsuko stared at his partner, stunned by the sudden turning of tables.

Darkness surrounded Kurama as he swam downwards. He had to help Hiei; he just had to, the urge was stronger than anything. He could feel the cold water biting at his skin like a sharp dagger, and the pain from the blood still remained, but he swan downwards still, kicking himself towards the black blur he saw several feet under him.

He coughed slightly. His lungs felt as if they were about to burst. Nevertheless, he sped up his pace and swam down to the unmoving black-clad figure and grabbed his body. One arm was placed around his waist, and another around his shoulders, he began kicking upwards towards the surface. He kicked desperately.

He didn't know if he would be able to survive much longer without breathing. He wondered if this would be his death right here. Still, he urged himself to keep going, for Hiei's sake.

His head broke the surface just in time; he coughed and gasped, happy to be able to breathe again. He hauled himself and Hiei up onto the ground and lying down on the ground to catch his breath. Sudden panic once again crossed his features, when he took a quick survey of Hiei and found that he wasn't breathing. "Hiei!" he yelled in a scared voice. He leaned down and yelled it in his ear, shaking him frantically. He received no reaction to this, not even a hn or a glare. Tears began to roll down his cheeks as he leaned down to the only thing he knew how to do in such a situation. He put a hand on Hiei's cheek. The skin was deadly cold to the touch. It couldn't be a good sign Hiei had always been warm.

"Please, Hiei!" he whispered before covering Hiei's mouth with his. He breathed lightly out into Hiei's mouth and drew back, repeating the process when he managed to get him to exhale. He leaned down and breathed for him again, his desperation growing and the tears increasing. A soft sob echoed as he gently pleaded between covering the demon's mouth and trying to get him to exhale. He had forgotten once again about the vanished demons, who had left when Kurama had dived.

"Hiei, please. You have to take a breath I don't think I can live without you!" he leaned down again and pressed his lips to Hiei's. He didn't hear Hiei cough lightly before his lips covered Hiei's again. He drew away a little, tears falling from his eyes as Hiei slowly opened his eyes. The crimson orbs looked very confused as he took a sharp intake of air and coughed up water he had swallowed. Hiei looked at the tearful Kurama in a surprised and shocked manner. He didn't say anything to him. Kurama unexpectedly threw his arms around Hiei in an almost strangling embrace, sobbing onto his shoulder.

"I thought you were dead Hiei!" he said in between his sobs. Hiei tentatively put his arms round the fox and squeezed him comfortingly. Kurama still cried. He had been so scared for him; he had really thought that he had lost the fire demon. A sudden question snapped into Hiei's mind.

"Kurama, where did those demons go?" he wondered why they had left. There was no way they should've left unless they took Kurama with them. He was their target, after all. Kurama trembled slightly and tried to regain a shred of self-composure.

"I-I don't know. It was all so strange. You fell in the water and I got really mad at them and those wards burned off. Then I summoned a plant I didn't even know was there. They were scared for some reason."

Hiei nodded and looked at the weeping redhead. He gently lifted his head and whispered reassuring words to him while stroking his cheek gently. Kurama was frozen. He wasn't even breathing. He found that the fact Hiei was stroking his cheek surprising, shocking, and frightening all at the same time. He trembled weakly, exhausted from lack of energy, swimming, and tears.

Hiei chuckled. "You truly can't keep yourself out of trouble, can you? You're exhausted and over half of your ki is gone." He gently stood and took and picked Kurama up bridal style. He gazed softly at the emerald-eyed kitsune and began to walk slowly. He felt freezing himself, and raised his ki so both he and Kurama would be more comfortable.

As they walked, Hiei spoke gently to the fox. They both had almost lost each other, and now Hiei knew the meaning of 'Tell him your feelings before it's too late.' He looked at the fox for a while before he finally began to speak.

"You know, fox. You're really quite odd. You make me feel weird and I can't help but worry about you. Do you carry some sort of disease or something like that?" His voice was uneasy. He'd never loved anyone in this sort of way before, and it made his confession harder to admit. It was only something he had just started to admit openly to himself, so how could he possibly explain this to the fox.

Kurama only blinked and tried to answer to what he had been asked. However, it didn't surprise the fire demon when he received no answer. He attempted again to correctly word this.

"Maybe when we get back we could go somewhere together. We could do something the ningens enjoy doing. Dinner, a movie, or maybe a walk if you would like?" Hiei suggested.

He mentally slapped himself. That had sounded so stupid. He was surprised when Kurama answered to his question with another question.

"Do you mean a date?" he asked in a soft sort of tone. Maybe that question hadn't been such a stupid thing to ask after all. This actually made things a lot easier for him to explain now.

"I guess that could be the way you could word it. So, what do you want to do tonight?"

Kurama blinked. Maybe it was just him, or he looked really happy at this they stared at each other for a little while without saying anything to the other. He replied a few long minutes afterwards in a different tone. "Maybe we could go and have dinner together at that restaurant in town. It has nice food, and I guess it's better than the leftovers we could have instead of that."

Hiei chuckled a little as they walked along at what Kurama had said.

Suddenly, he tripped. Although he didn't fall nor did he drop Kurama, he winced horribly at the pain in his wounds. Kurama had forgotten how much of a possibility there was Hiei was really seriously injured, and he regretted allowing Hiei to carry him now. He struggled a little in the Jaganshi's grip until he could find a place on the ground for his feet. He then stood up, freeing himself from Hiei's arms. He looked over at him apologetically, but he only received a glare from Hiei.

"What do you think you're doing?" He asked. It looked like Hiei was half inclined to just pick him up again without listening to the answer Kurama had to offer.

"Hiei, you're hurt I don't want to have to trouble you with me when you're already in pain. If anything, I should be the one carrying you." He replied. He'd never worried about someone like this for such a long time. But Hiei was his only concern. It felt as if he could go through all the pain in the universe just so he could ease the injuries Hiei had.

"I'm not in pain, idiot. You need to be carried. The cold will end up getting to you if you don't have my help, seeing as you've probably already caught something out here." Hiei replied in a cold voice. He was truly lying to Kurama, his body seemed full of pain at the time, but he was too stubborn to admit the two demons had really inflicted damage on him. He believed that if he admitted it, Kurama would see him as weak for not being able to defend himself better than he had.

Kurama looked worried, but Hiei didn't care. Just because he liked the fox didn't mean that he needed any pity from him. He didn't want anyone's pity; it made him believe he was weak. Kurama's eyes stayed fixed on him in a soft and sad expression.

"Hiei, please. You're hurt and I don't want to hurt you more. I'm not stupid about this, and I won't allow you to pretend like everything's all right." Hiei's gaze hardened on the fox before he replied exactly what had been going through his mind.

"I don't need pity, much less, from you." Kurama looked hurt by those words, and Hiei briefly regretted saying them. Of course, he didn't say this to Kurama. Kurama only looked like he was about to cry, but he held back the tears.

"Well, I still want to walk. Please, I'm not so weak as to need someone to carry me." He said in a shaky voice, continuing to walk now with his eyes averted forcefully away from Hiei's, as if he wanted desperately to look, but someone forbade him from doing so. They walked down the path in silence.

They reached the town without another word. Hiei could feel Kurama's worsening mood even standing next to him. The fox gave off such a depressed aura you could have assumed someone had just died. He'd have to remember to talk to Kurama about this later. The look in his eyes was unbearable to see, even from Hiei's point of view.

As they walked, Hiei surveyed Kurama's form. He wondered if the fox would ever look or act completely normal. His thin body looked unnatural, and his eyes looked dead. He could see the beginning of the horrible whip scare Kurama had traveling from shoulder. It stood out oddly against the deathly pale skin amazingly.

He inspected the arms, torn sleeves revealed positively mangled arms that looked this they had been chewed on by a dog. Blood glistened on the open wounds and the skin was very red, with bruises beginning to form too, for some odd reason. It made the redhead look even sadder, for some reason.

How had he not noticed how sad this boy had looked when he first met him? He knew that sadness was probably been there ever since he was released from Karasu's grip. So why hadn't this been noticeable before?

Maybe it had been because all he could see in the fox's eyes when they first met was fear. Looking back on them, he could remember seeing a deep an unknown sadness engraved within the orbs, but he hadn't acknowledged this at the time. It was something he had only seen back then, because he had a different view on all humans. He had believed all humans were weak for the most part, and apart from being good mothers, they were useless. Perhaps that was why he couldn't see that Kurama needed more help than anger.

He looked back on how much Kurama had come along since they had first met.

Kurama used to be so scared, and only went out late at night or when he was forced out due to lack of food or other things. He'd willingly go with him on walks in broad daylight before, and he'd just agreed to go out to dinner with him that night. That didn't mean the fear in him had still been erased. From time to time, he'd secretly read his mind with the Jagan to see how he was faring.

Fear of darkness and hurt lingered there. Fear that if Karasu came back, he'd be taken again and what little bit of life he was gaining back would disappear. It was something he never voiced, and Hiei assumed that Kurama didn't even know he feared darkness. He could only think about Karasu's actions and Hikaru's 'betrayal'.

Maybe Kurama could never truly heal from this. It was a very logical thought. You always heard about those people who were pushed off the edge by a traumatizing event in life. He had never known one of these people, nor had he ever seen one. He did know, however, that these people were broken beyond repair, and it was impossible to ever truly help them, no matter how great the help was.

Secretly, he knew deep inside that Karasu had broken Kurama, and he'd never be the same again in any part of his life, no matter how many years later. It wouldn't be something he would allow out of his subconscious mind. The worry he held deep within the depths of his heart was that the prediction the two demons had made would come true, and Kurama would really commit suicide. He was not willing to truly admit this to himself, as it had been with his feelings for Kurama for a log time.

The thought of Kurama's dead body, as had been stated before, sickened him in a way. He no longer wanted Kurama dead. He wanted to see that smile stay and all the pain they had both experienced together to vanish. Oh gods, those smiles. It had a way of driving away any bad thoughts he had ever had. However, that wasn't enough, he wanted to truly be able to 'live happily ever after'

Yes, he knew it was quite a naive wish to hold. All demons knew that there was no such thing. There was never a truly happily ever after. They didn't deny it like so many humans did. They knew that although happiness could always come, it never lasted forever. Eventually, something would have to go wrong, and that event would drive one or both to the edge. They'd simply commit suicide, die of natural causes, or become some psychotic killer.

Kurama opened the door and let Hiei enter. He stared down at his porch with an empty gaze. It hurt so badly, this pain and fear within his heart. He could feel himself being smothered by questions about his feelings.

Why did he always have to cry? Why did he feel so empty inside, like a whole chunk of his being was missing? Why did he cry without reason sometimes, simply because the loneliness and fear overwhelmed him? His heart felt truly broken, his soul shattered into millions of pieces. Yet he didn't know why. He had a good life now, and the threat he'd ever be in a situation like the one many months ago, almost a year, would ever recur. Yet he still felt so scared and sad. Why? It was a really stupid question, but he couldn't help himself when he asked it.

Why did he feel so worthless? He felt as if he was just an insignificant speck, which was really deserving of death. He often told himself there was nothing he was good at. Kurama loved being around Hiei, but he felt that he wasn't worthy enough of him. It was how he felt with Hikaru too. He loved him so much, yet he really didn't deserve such a great person, did he? No wonder Hikaru had betrayed him, it must have been because he hated him and saw him as unworthy.

Why couldn't he just fall asleep and just never wake again?

He just wanted death to come. Maybe he could speed the process up. There were plenty of ways he could die. There was a mountain right to the east of here, and he could easily leap off a cliff. He could easily starve himself too, although it might not be possible with Hiei forcing food down his throat whenever he ate.

Cutting his wrists was also a good alternative. He'd lose blood fast and unless Hiei helped him immediately, he would die of blood loss. Maybe even an overdose on several medications. Unless Hiei took him to the hospital right away, he'd die from the effects of the medicine combination. Maybe that was better, Hiei may not even notice if he did it in the middle of the night. If he cut his wrists Hiei would surely be able to smell the blood.

He was jerked from his thoughts as Hiei pulled him through the door, inspecting his arms. The fox was still unable to speak as Hiei gently prodded a black and blue area near an open wound to test how much damage had been.

Kurama suppressed the cry that threatened to rise from his throat and make itself known. But he still couldn't help whimpering pitifully as Hiei's fingers remained on the spot. He slowly removed his hand and clasped Kurama's gently as he led him to the kitchen so they could both have their wounds taken care of. He may be denying the fact he was in pain, but the wounds were something that he wouldn't deny, because he knew Kurama wouldn't allow that.

He sighed, as he brushed antiseptic onto the quivering kitsune's wounds. It wasn't as if they specifically needed it, but Hiei wanted to protect Kurama as best as he could from infection he was prone to. Kurama still didn't like to be touched. Sure, he'd let Hiei carry him if he was weak or hug him if he was extremely sad, but for the most part he didn't like it.

He put gauze over each wound and wrapped a long bandage around each arm tightly. He removed the bandage on Kurama's wrist from earlier and discarded it in the trash.

Kurama sat down in his chair and looked quietly at Hiei with mixed emotions. He was just thinking for a minute, but was watching as Hiei turned to retrieve more bandages from the cabinet and remove his own shirt.

Kurama's eyes widened as he saw the torso. He well built, muscular chest had several deep gashes in it, and he was bleeding profusely. Sure, he had seen him be beaten around like that, but he hadn't expected to see Hiei so hurt. Maybe he thought that Hiei was immortal, and couldn't be hurt. He ran over to help Hiei bandage and disinfect. He gently drew bottles out of his cabinet and gently began dabbing creamy-like substance over the cuts directly.

Hiei winced this had a slight sting to it. He gave a half questioning, half angry glare, and Kurama quickly opened his mouth to explain.

"It's an herbal remedy. This will help your wounds heal faster, it will also prevent you from getting an infection." Hiei gasped. This was a surprise, he hadn't known the kitsune could do this, not to mention, knew what each herb was for what and what it could be used for. It was kind of reassuring in a way, that the fox knew how to do something outside of the department of taking care of the necessities you needed to know to be able to survive.

"How the heck do you know this? AND WHY THE HELL AREN"T YOU USING IT ON YOURSELF?" He said, angered that the fox had acted so foolishly as not to apply it on himself. Surprisingly, Kurama smiled at this as he gently tended to the wounds.

"My mother taught me everything about herbal remedies I know. As for me not using it on myself, I knew you were most likely going to need the entire bottle of this for all your wounds and I wanted you to be able to have it. It doesn't matter if I only use antiseptic on my wounds. It isn't as if they're as horrible as yours are." Hiei growled. How dare he go assuming that he knew the tool the wounds had taken on him! They were not severe he swore it!

This was outrageous. Why did Kurama think of him before he thought of himself? Youko Kurama cared only for himself, not others. Surely, his human counterpart should have inherited at least a sliver of that selfishness. Right now, though, it didn't seem as if he had.

Kurama gently dabbed a new substance across his wounds now. This one was more of a liquid than a cream. It didn't sting like the other one had. Instead, it brought a cool comfort to his skin. It wasn't like it was a numbing agent; but instead, the pain was disappearing completely with each little dab Kurama applied. He watched as the kitsune worked carefully. He was really good at this, making these herbal treatments and caring for his wounds with them. So it turned out that the one thing Kurama was really talented at was really useful as well.

Kurama quietly finished tending to the wounds and wrapped bandages around him. Hiei then pulled his shirt on without saying a word. He looked at Kurama, amazed by his abilities. Kurama looked down and kept his eyes off of him. He didn't look too happy, or too proud of himself. Hiei tentatively walked over and lifted Kurama's chin, staring into the almost shameful eyes.

"That was very good, Kurama. Why didn't you tell me you were able to do these things? It's really useful." These words were so out of character for Hiei, but he felt desperate to help him cheep up a little bit, and this was really the only thing he could think of. Kurama looked down again and pulled away from Hiei's grip.

"Yeah…" he muttered softly before he walked off to his room without any warning whatsoever. Why didn't the fox even take pride in his abilities? He acted all so down and gloomy because he claimed that he was useless, yet here you have a perfect example that he is the exact opposite here. And Hiei thought Kurama really had been desperate to prove himself.

Hiei glared past him as he went. He forced words out of his, mouth before he could think about what he said, but it surprisingly won Kurama's attention with it.

"You told me you were going to come to dinner. So, what are you going to do? Are you just going to stay in bed and mope pathetically, or you actually going to do as you said? I really wanted to go to dinner with you! Stop being a pathetic fox and come with me, because I know you want to. Stop being scared for once!"

Hiei's voice was rather angry and loud as he said this. Kurama looked utterly shocked as he did so, and blinked. His mouth opened and closed his mouth many times, as if he wanted to say something.

However, there was no sound that came out and his stare didn't provide enough information for Hiei to understand the point he was trying to get across. Finally, a voice came out, soft and choked. Kurama forced himself to look up at the angry demon standing before him.

"I'm sorry, Hiei. I do want to go with you, and I still will. That is, if you don't think I'm too stupid to be seen in public with." He replied sadly, turning his face away so Hiei wouldn't be able to see the really sad look within the depths of his eyes.

"Kurama, you're so stupid, of course I don't think you're too stupid to be seen in public with. Otherwise, I wouldn't have asked. Now brush your hair, it's a mess. I'll take you out now if that's what you want. I don't really care."

Kurama looked slightly guilty for some reason for a minute, but then nodded his head and went to get a brush from his room. He came back a few minutes later, running a brush through the tangled mess. He winced in his attempts; he was probably hurting his arms trying to work out the tangles from his hair.

Hiei gave a frustrated sigh and grabbed the brush from him. "Sit." He ordered, pointing to the chair at the kitchen table. Kurama complied and Hiei began running the brush through the crimson mane himself.

As he gently worked the brush through the ends of the long tresses and worked his way up, he marveled the silky feel of his hair under his rough, calloused fingertips. Kurama didn't seem to mind the fact that Hiei was brushing his hair. He was relaxed and breathing softly for once, with his eyes closed softly.

Hiei wanted to be able to run his fingers though these soft locks. They felt so soft he felt almost comforted by it. That was something you could really love about his appearance, the beautiful hair.

Although many would prefer the prettier, and possibly even silkier silver hair Youko had, he'd choose this over the entire appearance of his past form. Not that his past form hadn't been handsome, he just preferred the human look more.

He finished and tapped Kurama's forehead lightly. He looked at Kurama's eyes before helping him out of his seat.

"Are you still sure you're up to going out like this. There'll be a lot of other people, and I can't guarantee that we'll be able to get a seat in the far corner away from people." He asked. Hiei truly wanted Kurama to be at ease and enjoy himself as much as possible. It would be easier to talk about his feelings later then. Kurama paused for a minute to think before he answered.

"I suppose. Please just promise me that you'll stay near me. Okay, Hiei? I don't want to be alone, and you're the only one I know who I can trust." Hiei nodded. It astounded him that he actually was showing signs of trusting him. Moreover, he had just basically said he'd feel safe when he was by him. It was an oddly pleasant feeling to know Kurama felt like that towards him. He should know by now that the trust, or what little he had from Kurama was a very hard thing to earn. He felt almost triumphant.

He reached out to hold Kurama's had, an innocent, gesture, but one that made them both blush as their fingers brushed lightly. Hiei clasped Kurama's hand lightly, while Kurama averted his gaze. Hiei knew that a light pink tint danced across his cheeks, but it didn't matter, for Hiei possessed that light pink tint himself.

They walked slowly together without words or eye contact. Each possessed his own thought separate from the current situation. Hiei's mind couldn't get off Kurama now more than ever. His eyes darted to Kurama's form more than once, marveling the sylphlike form before him, before his eyes darted back so that the fox wouldn't notice.

Kurama wasn't sure what to think. Here he was, going out to dinner with a demon. How was that possible? Sure, Hiei had called it a date, but it couldn't be possible. Hiei hated him, right? He'd been told that by the irate fire demon more than once. He was probably only doing this because Koenma had told him to. There was certainly no way the boy could truly want to go on a date with him.

People stared as they walked. It wasn't as if the two noticed, much less cared, so they continued to walk. There were whispers among the groups of people on the streets supposed to be going about their daily lives. Five young women, one sixteen, two fifteen, one eighteen, one nineteen stood in a circle whispering about the two. Hiei's attention was attracted to their words.

"Who is that black-clad man? I know I've seen the redhead before, but I don't know that this person has ever came here." Asked a woman carrying a shopping bag to her group of friends.

"Why is the redhead with him anyways? That poor boy is scared of anything, and I wouldn't be surprised if he's scared of his own shadow. He only comes out once a month, and from what I know, the kid lives alone. I always wondered where the parents were. I mean, he can't be much older than us, can he!" Said another woman to the first.

"Didn't you hear? That boy is supposed to be protecting the town." Said yet another woman among their small circle they had made. The town knew very well of the threat of demons. Well, who wouldn't if you lived in a place that was attacked by them? The woman gasped and started furiously whispering to one another.

"Where did you get that idea, Takehiko-san?" piped up a slightly younger girl.

"There was a young man that came around last time there was a demon attacking here. I happened to be right by that location, witnessing what it was doing, and I was too scared to move. So he dragged me to safety, and we talked. He told me that there wouldn't be attacks like that one anymore because someone a young demon was coming to protect us and we wouldn't have to deal with attacks like that anymore. Come to think of it, the attacks stopped right after that." She replied. The other women looked astounded.

"Was the guy cute?" another girl asked in a dreamy voice. Well, they were young women, looking for a nice boy, so of course they cared if he was cute.

"Oh, Hotaru-chan, he was so unbelievably cute…" she answered, getting all starry-eyed.

"I've always preferred that redhead. He's really cute. I wonder what his name is?" answered a black-haired girl with a blonde streak.

"Hehe, I think that you're in love, Haruko. You should ask his name. Who knows, maybe he'll want to go on a date with you!" replied Takehiko.

At this comment, Hiei gave a rather quick tug on Kurama's wrist and lead him towards he restaurant. He'd have to remember to chop that girl's head off if she ever came near his Kurama. Okay, so maybe he was being a bit possessive, but he'd still chop her head off.

They sat down quietly to face each other in the restaurant. They still couldn't say anything to each other, for fear of saying anything stupid. Both fiddled with the napkin on their place setting.

Meanwhile, Akushitsuko and Shin sat in a cave. Shin was bleeding horribly. Akushitsuko had helped him haphazardly wrap a bandage around his torso, but the blood seemed to continue to flow, no matter what either of them did to try and stop it.

"You've tried healing it with your energy, correct?" asked the dragon. The other demon shifted in his seat a little, winced, and nodded. Akushitsuko cursed under his breath. Neither of them was skilled in healing or taking care of wounds. They rarely needed it because nobody had ever inflicted such a serious wound on either of them. But Kurama had, both were shocked and angered at the same time. How had that hanyou managed too inflicted such a serious wound, and where had all that energy came from. That was almost par with Youko in his best form.

"Aku, I think I've lost too much blood. I'm probably not going to make it as it is…" The dragon glared at him, angered by this saying.

"You aren't supposed to let such a stupid hanyou beat you, remember? If you really aren't that strong of a partner, maybe I should just kill you on the spot." They'd been partners for years, not to mention, mates, but Shin knew very well that he was serious about this. They did have another partner once, but Aku had killed him. He insisted that he had been to weak, and anyone that weak deserved to die.

"No, I wouldn't blame you if you killed me. That was a really stupid move I pulled back there. I should have been able to block it, so naturally I deserve my fate. I suppose you'll kill me for this next foolish move I make." Akushitsuko blinked. He looked angry and confused, probably because he didn't like it when he didn't understand what someone meant.

Without giving Akushitsuko time to think or respond, Shin threw his arms around his and placed a quick, loving kiss on the lips. The single gesture was enough to inform Akushitsuko of what he had meant by his last statement. His eyes narrowed and he pushed away.

"You know very well that I don't accept these emotions, yet you choose to defy my wishes. You also know very well that the bond we share is primarily based upon lust, and I have no feelings towards you, whatsoever, right? Tell me that this is a joke and I'll spare you life." Shin smiled for once.

"No, I'm not joking, I really love you, Aku. Even of you don't love me back. I don't care if it earns my death either." Akushitsuko's eyes narrowed even more.

"Well, you shouldn't have been so foolish. I know that you knew better." He informed, before plunging his nails through the shadow demons chest. He coughed up blood for a moment, and then fell to the ground, still. As if it had been a regular kill, Akushitsuko licked the blood off his fingers and turned his back, and odd force compelled him to take a glance back, and he scowled at the corpse, cursing it for earning it's own death.

It was odd. He felt anger like none other at Kurama for stabbing him through the chest. Maybe if he hadn't done that, Shin might not have gotten so desperate and told him this. Then, he wouldn't be dead. If Hiei hadn't fallen under the ice, then Kurama wouldn't have gotten so mad. He felt undeniably angrier a them more than anyone (Except Shin, of course.) He clenched his fists. They would die a most slow and painful death now, the both of them. All he had to do was think of the worst way possible for each of them to die. They would be begging for mercy by the time he finished with them.

Hiei and Kurama were well underway with dinner. It was sort of odd, this date they were on. They didn't talk to each other a lot, besides the occasional comment or two. Often, Kurama would look up and make eye contact with Hiei before blushing and turning his attention back to his dinner plate.

"So…" said Hiei. He wanted to be able to start a conversation. The air was oddly tense around the two for a moment before Kurama continued the sentence for him.

"Why did you want to go on a date with me Hiei?" he blurted out before he could think. He couldn't have helped it. It was what had been on his mind for quite some time now, and in the tense moment they has shared, Kurama had drawn upon his thoughts simply because he lacked other ideas on what he should say to the fire demon.

An extremely tense moment passed between them, and Hiei found the urge to talk to Kurama outside. The fox was too confused at his puzzled and dazed expression. He waved his hand in front of the youkai's field of view to get his attention. Hiei nearly jumped, and got up quickly at this. He threw enough money down on the table to cover what they had bought and pulled Kurama out of the building by the wrist.

"Hiei?" he questioned in confusion. He was being pulled quickly along by a now sprinting demon into the forest, deeper and deeper.

They stopped an ancient oak tree, Kurama was panting and wheezing. Although he had always had been very good at running, the swift pace Hiei was used to was much to fast for the human body to be able to keep up with. Kurama looked confused "Hiei, what was that for?" he asked, the tone of voice as puzzled as he looked.

Hiei tried to think of what to say to this. Sure, he had his reasons, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to tell them to Kurama in a place full of people. He wasn't even sure if he could do it here.

"I suppose that's a question we shouldn't be talking about around other people. They might think we're odd, you know." He said in his regular voice. That didn't seem to work, the fox did not look very much convinced by this.

"Since when have you care about other people's opinions?" he asked doubtfully. Hiei growled while trying to think of another, more plausible excuse?

"Hn, it wasn't that I care what those stupid ningens think. I just didn't want to talk around them. They were getting on my nerves." That sounded a bit more in character for Hiei, and Kurama tried to reason with himself and figure out if he was lying or not. He finally shook his head and turned to look up at the treetops.

Hiei tried to sort out his feelings. It was all quite overwhelming for him, and he didn't know what to say to it. He wanted to tell Kurama about these feelings he felt, but he didn't know how to word it. It was true, he had never had to deal with these types of emotions before, and now he felt angered by them. If only they would go away, then he could go back to his regular life. He hated living like this, he felt impeded by something for an odd reason. He couldn't figure out what that something was.

He couldn't help but stare at Kurama, as always. His beautiful locks contributed to his thin, but still graceful form. He turned to look at him at that moment, eyes glinting oddly in the moonlight, capturing the almost innocent look of the young eyes, free of Youko's memories and attitude. Hiei felt dizzy. How could one person make him feel so many different things at once? He felt odd about that, it was ironic that the first person he had fallen in love with was none other than the reincarnation of Youko Kurama, his greatest rival. Had someone told him this years ago, he would have laughed cruelly and told the person they were foolishly mistaken.

Kurama walked over to him quietly, his eyes had so many emotions within them currently, and it was impossible to tell which feelings they actually were. He opened his mouth to speak.

"Hiei, what's really wrong? What you told me before couldn't have been the truth. Why did you really bring me out here?" Hiei sighed. He should have known Kurama would see through his lies. He was much too perceptive in that field that it was almost scary. He thought really hard about how he should tell him this. Tentatively, he reached his hands up onto Kurama's shoulders and tightened held them with a tight grip, looking the redhead directly in the eyes. Kurama looked confused, he didn't understand so far what Hiei meant by this.

He was swung around so that his back was pressing against the oak' s wide trunk. Still, he couldn't understand the meaning Hiei intended to get across. He blinked softly. "Hiei?" he asked, a soft red blush creeping across his cheeks. A feeling flared inside both their chests as they involuntarily leaned forward a bit.

Their noses touched each other's lightly, and they both blushed and blinked, lost for words, lost from the world. Kurama laughed nervously out of the blue as he looked deeper into Hiei's eyes and leaned in a tiny but more. He had forgotten his fears right now, all he could think about was Hiei, and how much he wanted to be with him.

Slowly, Hiei moved his hands from Kurama's shoulders to his forearms. As Kurama had done a few seconds ago, Hiei leaned in closer, so that their lips were only a few inches away from each other. He didn't know what he was doing; all he knew was that he was happier right at this second than he had ever been in the entire span of his lifetime. He felt like screaming his feelings out right now, but the words wouldn't come out of his mouth. He was too stunned by the beautiful green eyes he was staring into. Hiei leaned against Kurama softly, savoring the wonderful moment.

Hiei leaned against Kurama fully, and had the fox not been standing against a tree trunk, he would have toppled over right away, bringing Hiei with him. He was lucky though, they swaggered for a minute, but were steadied by a vine that had wrapped itself around the two bodies to steady them. Kurama wondered where it had come from. He had not summoned it, and he was pretty low on ki as it was. Maybe it was a way of a plant helping it's master, as a dog would for his owner.

Again, they both leaned in a bit more. They both closed their eyes and relaxed as they wrapped their arms around each other and rubbed noses, warming the other's face with their soft breath.

Hiei felt the urge to lean in the rest of the way and capture those petal soft lips for his own. A soft, cool night breeze picked up their hair lightly as it rustled through the trees. The leaves made an eerie sound in the lonely air, but neither cared, nor seemed to notice. It seemed to be urging them to muster up the courage to kiss. The Jaganshi's arms slipped around the other's waist before softly whisperingsomething to him.

Finally, capturing his lips in a heated kiss he wrapped his arms even tighter around the redhead's body and pulled him fully against him. Kurama kissed back fervently. The words Hiei had murmured were lost within the whispers of night wind.

"I love you, always and forever, my fox."

* * *

Me: Well, how did you like that now. I had a lot of fun writing the Hiei and Kurama romance in here, so I want to know how you think. Review, as always, because I appreciate it and it helps me improve. 


	16. Chapter 16

**_Enemies from the Start, Lovers Until the End_**

Me: I am SO SORRY that it took so long to post. Hehe, writer's block had taken quite a toll on me, and it didn't leave me all the more happy when I had finally found a good idea, but was unable to put it into words. I hope that this chapter makes up for the delay, although in my opinion, I highly doubt that. I suppose there's a lot of boring parts in here; I just hope I don't leave you very bored. I can't promise, but I will try my best to get the next one out sooner than I did for this one.

Hmm. This is my last chapter, so I'm going to want your opinion when you're done PLEASSSSSE!

Yay! I was working in a group with two friends in a contest to design and anime t-shirt design for our school's anime club. We ended up winning, yay!

**Warnings and Disclaimer:** Anyone concerned my disclaimer isn't adequate, check any chapter 1-14 to prove that theory. As for yer warnings, if you haven't figured out by now that this is a **_yaoi _**story, you either skipped past all my warnings, the summary warning, and the ending part of chapter 15, or you're a very dull, dull pencil. Other warnings can still apply though. The beginning part of this chapter isn't too bad angst wise, but expect it to get worse, because I still have some stuff planned. I don't know who could ever be against angst, but if you have any ideas of anything angst-related that brings you anger, please don't waste your time.

**Note: **I bring up the idea of demons marking their mates VERY early in this chapter. Although I do not own or claim to have thought up the idea, I have put my own little spin on it, as so many others have. Just to let you know, I'm not trying to copy off anyone, because I like staying as original as I can, but if you dare think that I am claiming this idea as my own, just consider it disclaimed, please.

**To the reviewers: **(-Faint- so many kind reviewers, you all make me joyful and happy! Okay, so maybe no all that joyful… But happy for sure!)

**Sabrinaw**

Hmm. I'm taking that you liked it. Hmm, I didn't expect anybody to think it was really that cute. Anyhow, thank you for reviewing!

**Lol **

I'm glad that you liked it. Yup, two chapters in one day be happy, happy is good. Now if only I could have posted this chapter a little sooner. Curse you, writer's block! And then curse the mind for not being able to put inspiration to words. Mmm, I really want to that pairing soon. I love the pairing, so the idea had just come from the top of my head. I wish there were more of YoukoxShuuichi stuff. I've actually already read_ Optimum Dream _by Funara. I love it! The only thing that makes me mad is that I can't seem to get to the first chapter. Stupid parental controls, block me from all the good stories, why don't you?

**Evene**

Wow! Three reviews, I'm so happy. Lol, it's cool how you've reviewed every single chapter now. For that, I offer HUGE thanks to you. You really do leave good reviews. It isn't a biased review, but it offers open opinion and suggestions. It's a type of review that really helps a person improve. I'm still slightly surprised that Kurama has improved this much, although I know it's a bit odd because I worked every single chapter to see he improved at least a tiny bit. I still love writing romance with them. It's fun! Well, angst is very fun as well, and I suppose you're going to be seeing a lot more of it before this ends. (The ending is probably coming soon, since I don't want to seem like I'm trying to prolong a story that should end because the plot is almost done. Trust me, I don't want it to end either. I have so much fun writing each chapter, I promise that I'll dearly miss this one afterwards. I'll take a closer look before I post it again to see if I can fix some of those grammar mistakes so you won't run into such problems again. Well, until next time, Arigato and I'll se ya!

**A-dragon's-beautiful-rose **

Well, thank you for reviewing. I do try to update A.S.A.P, so I hope the update didn't seem too prolonged to you.

**BlackRoseVixen05**

Ah! I'm glad that you liked both chapters. Thanks a lot for your review!

**Shiorifoxiesmom**

There really isn't anything to be sorry about. If you don't have a chance to review or read for a while, do you think I'll be mad? I do it all the time. I'll get completely caught up in the real world that I don't have a chance to review anything. So I know your situation. High school sucks! Not only does it drain energy, but also five minutes in that building gets rid of any story or chapter ideas you have. Thanks for reviewing! Ja ne!

**Greenmeat**

I'm glad you liked it. I purposely made it so they didn't attack each other with heated passion on the first kiss. I love focusing on first kiss scenes, and I just kinda think if they're leaping all over each other it ruins the moment. Thanks for reviewing!

**Lazy fat kitsune **

Hmm, maybe it was good that I posted two chapters on the same day. I left you with a nice chapter to atone for the mean cliffie. I'm happy you liked the lat scene, and thank you for reviewing.

**LoversPastForgotten**

Wow. I really didn't expect this good of a reaction from everybody. Thanks for reviewing!

**Nyte Kit**

So, it was your favorite chapter out of all of them, ne? II think that it was mine as well. I can't believe my grammar improved a bit! The official date part of this wasn't very satisfying for me, but I did really like the part I wrote at the end, looking back upon it. I like the idea of Hiei being apprehensive about his feelings, because I believe the reason he's so cold and distant is because he can tent to be a wee bit apprehensive about those types of things. That, however is a good thing, because if Hiei was some sentimental, true to his feelings pansy, I think I'd die. As I like to say, the day Hiei says "You're my bestest friend Kuwabara! I love the world! Is the day society crumbles and the worldwide population commits suicide. It isn't wise to get on Kurama's bad side, is it? Well, enough blabbering on my part, I thank you for your review!

**Red Kitsune Flames**

Ah, I'm glad that you liked it a lot. Thank you for the kind review, because I appreciate every one I get.

**Makurayami Ookami**

Being cruel is fun. Maybe not in real life, because I'm not like that, but I love being mean in my stories. I bet Kurama would kill me for it if we ever crossed paths. Either that, or he'd think I was some sick freak and walk away quickly. Freedom doesn't come without a price. Throughout the story, I suppose one can learn that. To get away from Karasu's clutches, Kurama not only had to learn to try and break away from his fears, but he got a nice scar as a souvenir. I'm glad that you liked it, and thank you so much for leaving your reviews. It's very much appreciated.

**Aiko**

I'm glad that you like it so far. I hope that you'll leave another review sometime too. Thank you so much!

**Mistic Fox**

I'm really glad that you liked it. I appreciate the review too. Arigatou Gozaimasu!

**Ryuuie Mizishi**

Well, I'm glad that you thought that it was a sweet scene. Hiei coming to senses about his feelings is a really good thing too. Lol, I don't know if there were too many people looking at how Hiei improved throughout the story, but it was something I tried to work in wile I worked on Kurama's improvements. He's grown up in so many ways… even though he was probably well past what a human would consider 'the age you're grown-up'. He's a demon, so he has to be fairly old, right? Thanks for the review!

**Kb**

-Faints- Wow… that's just about the kindest thing I have ever heard in my entire life. Did you really like it that much? I'm speechless. Thanks for reviewing!

**Noroi Inu **

Kawaii! I love the word. Go ahead, glomp anyone ya want. Akushitsuko and Karasu, I suppose, are really mean, maybe they deserve a taste of their own medicine (Kind like your statement about how they should go bite themselves, ne?) Depressing plots seem to give my stories more life than anything else. I really can't write a happy or normal story without it driving me crazy and turning out to be pretty sucky as well. The last story I had that was SUPPOSED to be happy was a failure. I got bored writing it halfway through, my chapters were short, it sucked, and I ended up going on an angst streak in the end and only leaving three of the main characters alive out of ten. -.- My, my, I hated that story. Besides, depressing plots are so much more fun to read, because it's all so thrilling in a very sad way. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that at least one person felt bad for Shin. It's kinda like the thing where no matter how evil and unscarred someone may seem, there is almost always something you can find to pity about them. (Unless you're a heartless bastard, that is) Sorry for my endless rambling, and thanks for your review.

Kurama lay curled within Hiei's strong grip, eyes closed in deep contentment. The fire demon was running his fingers through the soft crimson locks as he looked down at the peaceful face. Kurama sighed blissfully and snuggled closer to Hiei's chest, enjoying the warm arms that held him comfortably. It was truly a happy moment for him, a reprieve from what had seemed like an eternity of fear, sadness, and loneliness.

It was a peaceful night eight here as it was, and it seemed to add onto the magic of the scene for Hiei. There were fireflies buzzing off in the distance, lighting up the sparkling dew on each blade of grass. Although they were quite deep into a forest, light shone through the gaps in the tree tops and pierced through the darkness in an eerie, yet beautiful way. The fox was very happy to be in his arms, Hiei could tell this with only a simple glance. He hadn't seen him so relieved or happy ever, not even when he had been in his youko form all those years ago.

Kurama had opened his eyes to stare up into the intense crimson orbs hovering above his. Those eyes brought an odd sense of security and reassurance to him; he'd never felt so strongly as this, even when he had been with Hikaru. Perhaps everything would be okay, and he could really be happy, with Hiei holding him in his arms like this for all of eternity, until the day he died.

The thought, however, brought sadness to his heart at the same time. It broke though the happiness and Kurama closed his eyes once again, snuggling a little harder against the Jaganshi's chest. He didn't deserve Hiei. He wasn't strong like him, nor was he all to brave or talented. It was exactly opposite of how Hiei was. How could Hiei possibly want to be with such a pathetic creature as him? No matter how much he wanted to prove himself to Hiei and finally find that bravery demons were supposed to possess, he could never possibly be really worthy of the great and strong Hiei, right?

The way that the redhead was acting concerned Hiei, who was still busy with playing with the red tresses. There was no reason for Kurama could possibly find any reason to fear this, could he? He had kissed back and allowed Hiei to hold him of his own free will. So it wasn't that Kurama was scared of what was happening. Intuition told him that this wasn't fear, though. There seemed to be more there, something Hiei couldn't quite place his finger on.

"Kurama, what's wrong?" he asked. Although he didn't want to act like he was a concerned sap who worried too much, he swallowed his pride and accepted he'd need to play the role of being the concerned one for now. There may be something really wrong with Kurama; it was what worried him most.

Kurama looked up at him and forced himself to smile. The fire demon was able to tell that he wasn't really smiling now, the smile looked outwardly forced and quite fake, to be truthful. Kurama averted his gaze a little and tried to think of an excuse for his fake smile to say that Hiei would believe. He frowned when he was unable to come up with such a comment.

"It's just…. Well, I suppose it's… No, that can't be the way to say it." Kurama mused aloud.

There was no way he could possibly think of anything to say to the other boy, could he? Hiei's eyes narrowed and his grip tightened on Kurama a little. He wanted to be able to figure out what Kurama was trying to say, but the stammering and unsure words weren't helping him out at all. It could almost be seen as completely useless to even ask when viewed by many people. He should have known better.

"Come on fox, just spit it out. What do you think? I'll abandon you because I think that anything you say is too stupid for me to hear?" The redhead blinked at this, and bit his lip hard, hard enough to draw blood. He felt someone begin to stroke his cheek fondly; he didn't look up at Hiei again. He still somehow believed that Hiei was only acting, no matter how desperately his heart was screaming at him that there was no joke in the way Hiei stroked his cheek or kissed him.

Tears bit at the corners of his eyes as he spoke in a soft and sad tone, it was almost heart wrenching, it was filled with self-hatred, sadness, regret, and shame. Hiei noted that he'd have to talk to a real psychiatrist about these mood swings Kurama would often have. He'd often go from joyful, to practically suicidal one minute, and then another, depressed to furious.

"Hiei, why are you so nice to me all the time. I mean, besides the occasional insult, you take care of me more than anybody else would ever want to. I know you're completely unwilling when it comes to it, but you really go to great lengths to see that I'm alive and healthy. When I was sick, you took me to a doctor, you took care of me when I came home and had to stay in bed. You've saved my life more than once, and I haven't done a thing to repay you. And most of all, you've put up with all of my stupid fears and listened to my pathetic stories without complaint. Why?"

Kurama paused for a minute to wipe away tears that threatened to spill. He didn't want to cry anymore, especially not in front of Hiei. He didn't want to look like a baby in front of the person he desperately wanted to be strong for.

To his surprise, he felt warm fingers wipe away the wetness around his eyes for him; Hiei leaned down to kiss his forehead, in hopes of calming or reassuring him. The fox swallowed hard and continued to talk

"I mean that I know that you hate me, but why do you have to act like this? I want noting more than to be with you forever, but I know better than to know that an event like that could be true. I want you so desperately that it hurts, and I know I could never truly be a good lover to you. You're a great demon, you're strong, you're brave, and you deal with things so much better than I ever would be able to. How could you ever love me Hiei? Why do you do this simply because you feel sorry for me?"

Hiei's eyes widened. Had this been what had been bothering the redhead earlier? His eyes narrowed further in annoyance. "How dare you call me a liar, Kurama! Stop being stupid about this kind of thing, I know that you're smarter than that. I don't say these things because I feel sorry for you. I say them because I mean it."

With that, he pulled Kurama into another intense kiss. Hot tears slipped out of the corners of Kurama's eyes as he shook slightly from tears. Hiei's hands were wrapped firmly around his waist as he kissed Kurama, and the redhead's eyes slowly slipped shut as he began to kiss back.

Hiei held Kurama's face close to him when they broke apart for air. Kurama seemed to be having an internal war with himself. The beautiful fox's mixed expression was enough to confuse anyone who chose to take a glance at him. Their breaths mingled lightly as they breathed together. Hiei stared at Kurama intently, waiting for some type of answer from his. None came, and a long and awkward silence passed between the two. Not knowing what to say, they looked in to each other's softening orbs in confusion, laughed nervously and blushed the brightest shade of red possible— even brighter than Hiei's eyes or Kurama's hair.

Kurama looked up at him again, eyes fixed in a serious expression. "Hiei, do you really mean that?" he asked in a practically incredulous voice. It was hard for him to believe such a thing, especially coming from a person like Hiei.

Hiei, whispered softly to him, the gap between then was not large, but Kurama had to still strain his ears to hear what Hiei had said. He supposed he might have done this to ensure only Kurama heard it. Maybe it could be interpreted that Hiei had meant the phrase would only ever be told to him.

"Yes, of course I'm serious, my fox. I could never say that I had meant anything other than that."

Hiei told him as he stroked his hair. Kurama sighed in contentment once again and relaxed against his chest once more. He prayed that Hiei would never end up like Hikaru. Although his instincts were pleading with him to pull away, he absolutely wouldn't budge. His heart was too strongly set on this and wouldn't let instincts win this time.

Hiei smiled softly down at the sight before him. It was odd to see him with such a smile, even if it was only a tiny one. Yet still, it didn't seem to suit him, because it contrasted his dangerous, muscular form and the usually cruel crimson orbs.

A few more tears streaked down the fox's cheeks as he lay against the strong chest. It was so hard for him to believe that, because he had never heard someone say that to him in his life. He used to never have those kinds of doubts, so he had never really known what his old family and friends' thoughts were on the matter, Hikaru included. It felt so good to hear that, yet he still felt like there was something wrong. Why did he have to be so pathetic like this? He asked himself. It was a small wonder that Hiei always used to get mad at him.

Hiei didn't whisper reassuring words like another boyfriend may have, but he still gave Kurama support he was in need of. Gentle strokes on his cheeks and hair was comforting in a way, and Hiei allowed Kurama to cry against his shoulder for as long as he wanted to without saying anything about it. His thoughts weren't on Kurama that much, he stared off into space while running his fingers absentmindedly through the scarlet locks.

A wind rustled through the leaves and snapped them out of their reverie. Kurama shivered and coughed a bit. Of course, Hiei had forgotten he could potentially be ill. He wished that this half demon condition wouldn't keep bringing up so many problems. Why did Kurama have to have a weaker immune system than even the average human? He sighed. Youko Kurama must have been pretty desperate for him to be fleeing to a human body like that. Surely, the ancient fox had known the risks and downsides.

"Let's go Kurama, it's getting late. You must be tired." He said, ruffling his hair a little bit. He picked Kurama up and cradled him in his arms. Kurama protested.

"Let me walk with you, Hiei. I'm not injured and I want to be able to walk on my own." He said softly. Hiei shrugged it off and set Kurama on his feet, waiting for him to find his center of balance before continuing ahead. Kurama stood there for a moment, then jogged to catch up. Kurama clasped Hiei's hand and walked at a matching pace. The fire demon looked over at him as his hand tingled. Although they had both been open about their feelings by now, it still felt oddly pleasurable to see Kurama come up to him and willingly take hold of his hand. He really hadn't realized over time how far the fox had really come since the first day they met.

They walked once again in complete silence. Kurama simply enjoyed being in Hiei's presence. Although the feelings of fear and sadness were still there, all he could think about was his happiness. For some reason, just standing next to the fire demon was comforting and gave Kurama reasons for happiness that he was unable to explain.

Their eyes met again as they walked casually back towards Kurama's house. They had taken their eyes off their surroundings and looked completely into each other's shimmering orbs. The moment was broken when Kurama walked directly into the trunk of a tree and fell backwards. Hiei ran back and caught Kurama before he was able to hit the ground, but the fox had been shocked when he had hit the object. Kurama felt really dizzy, and in another attempt to stand without the aid of the Jaganshi, he fell back into his savior's arms when his legs failed him. He found himself staring back into crimson orbs when Hiei picked him up to carry him.

Kurama sighed once again— his legs felt a bit too weak to walk on at the current time. Had he not known this, he would have insisted he walked on his own. The truth was that he hadn't ever been too much against Hiei carrying him as a matter of pride and the desire to do things himself, but rather, the fact he involuntarily was reminded of Karasu when he allowed Hiei to carry him like this for some odd reason. It felt pathetic, but he couldn't help it.

It was obvious what the fox was thinking now; Hiei sighed and said nothing about it. Maybe those types of problems were something Kurama would have to figure out how to solve and deal with by himself. Kurama wanted independence in certain areas of life, and that was certainly justified. He wasn't a little child in need of constant care, after all.

Kurama only sighed and leaned his head against Hiei's chest. He'd allow himself to be carried, just this once… His thoughts drifted away as he felt sleep pulling at his eyes. He continued to stare at the crimson orbs without thought as he struggled with his body to keep his eyes open and his yawns suppressed. He felt that if he fell asleep, he'd find out that the idea of Hiei ever loving him like this was all just a dream, and he'd find that he was as hateful and angry as ever. He didn't want _this _to be a dream. It seemed way to good to be a dream to him, and he didn't want it to be. This was one of the most fortunate events that had occurred in a very long time.

He really wasn't able to help falling asleep. Those orbs staring down into his were so reassuring, and the arms that held him were so warm. His eyelashes fluttered as he once against attempted to conquer the fatigue overtaking his body. He sighed and gave up, sighing and snuggling against the warm chest before he allowed sleep to completely win him over.

Hiei smiled down at the now sleeping figure. He was really beautiful, those eyes closed peacefully and his head resting against his collarbone. He felt an alien warm feeling spread in his chest, but for once, he didn't try to push it away. Was this what true happiness was? Hiei had never known such a feeling before. And although in the past, he would have cursed such a feeling, he couldn't help but find joy in it.

He absentmindedly leaned down and kissed Kurama's forehead tenderly, letting his head drape down so that he his and Kurama's foreheads were pressing together. Kurama unconsciously sighed contentedly in his sleep and moved closer to Hiei by simple impulse. Hiei then picked his head up and continued walking, nothing more than the silence of the forest and the presence of his sleeping love to keep him company. But for Hiei, that in itself was all he'd ever need.

A bird fluttered into the night as Hiei walked out of the forest, scaring it off the signpost it had perched itself upon. Hiei paid no mind. Although his gaze was attentive and focused ahead, a serious look written across his features, his mind was elsewhere, and in an almost dreamy state. Hiei could still feel Kurama's soft lips on his and taste their sweet favor. He breathed in the intoxicating flowery scent of Kurama that he had never cared enough to notice before.

Light snow began to fall as Hiei headed towards the house. The snowflakes mingled with Kurama's eyelashes and caught in the red locks of hair. Somehow, it made Kurama look even prettier with this snow falling on him. His breath came out in light puffs as the distant, Hiei's normal look began to melt and give way to a tiny smile again. '

It was amazing he had been smiling like this. Even if they were only the tiniest of smiles for the briefest moments, it was so unlike him. He never used to smile before. What would people think if they had known him before all of this? Would they think of him as some giddy, love struck human? Somehow, Hiei didn't care if the saw him as that, no matter how much he had hated being seen as a human in other demons' views. Kurama had taught him that although humans couldn't fight like demons did, they had strengths demons didn't possess that made them equally as strong, perhaps even stronger. This had been one thing the human women who had adopted him had never been able to teach him, no matter what else she had been able to do.

He opened the door with one hand and entered Kurama's home. As a common sign of politeness, he taken his sword from his belt and placed them beside his boots, which he had managed to toe off while still holding Kurama. He then cradled the fox with one arm and took off his shoes, throwing them down beside his own. Then, the fire demon proceeded in carrying the sleeping fox to the bedroom.

It was so comforting when he reached the bedroom. He set the boy down and gently covered him with a blanket before sitting on the bed to look at him. The smile had disappeared off his face long ago, and he was back to his normal self, but he still couldn't help laying next to the beautiful creature and stroking his cheek.

He put his arms around Kurama's body and closed the gap between the two. It felt amazing to lay like this with Kurama, and he could feel new instincts he had never even recognized before rise within. He buried his face along Kurama's pale neck wile trying to quell the instinct to mark him that was rising within his being. Kurama stirred against him and emerald orbs opened softly. By this time, Hiei was licking and kissing his way down his neck. The redhead blushed and sat up.

"Hiei, what are you doing?" he asked drowsily. Hiei felt guilty at waking Kurama up. He was probably dead tired as it was, and it didn't help if he woke him up with something that could easily wait. Kurama probably wouldn't want to be marked anyways, what had gotten into him?

"I'm sorry, Kurama. Did I wake you?" he asked, concerned that the fox wasn't going to be able to fall back asleep again. Kurama shook his head and closed his eyes.

"No, I was actually I was having a dream, that was the thing that woke me up not you. But what were you doing?" Kurama asked, rubbing his eyes and stretching a little bit. Hiei paused and wondered how to explain it to him. Kurama wouldn't remember what it meant when a demon marked you, and he'd probably find the reason for such a bite to the neck useless, most likely.

"It's just a demon thing, Kurama. It isn't anything that would concern you too much, so go back to sleep and forget about it." He replied. It wasn't that he didn't want Kurama to know, but he didn't want to deprive the human any more sleep than he already had.

"Please, Hiei, tell me what it is. I am curious about how demon relationships work. I have a feeling that this has something to do with it, am I right? Besides, I'm not tired; I've had plenty enough time to sleep already." Hiei sighed. He just hoped that the hanyou wouldn't be tired in the morning.

"Demon relationships are the same as human relationships in a sense, but when you look at it they're a lot different. In a real relationship, the demons are referred to as lovers, and if they have mated with each other, they are referred to as mates. The main difference is that demons don't get married; one of the demons will leave a mark to their chosen one's neck as a signal that they aren't available. Generally, demons won't touch you because they'll see that mark upon the demon's neck and will know that if they touch the one in question in any sexual or loving way, the demon's lover will kill them without hesitation." Kurama blinked. It sounded a bit violent to him.

"Not only that, demons with these marks are committed to their mates forever, the cannot ever be with somebody else. Demons don't have affairs like so many humans do, and they don't do what humans call 'divorces' either. Hanyous, however, don't bite a mate's neck if they have a demon mate; they are in the same position as a human would be in the relationship. So they are given a bite to the neck, but won't mark their mate in return. In full-blooded demon relationships, both mates mark each other. That of course, does not change the facts. All rules apply to humans and hanyous as they would if both mates were demons except for the part about marking." He explained.

Kurama blinked for a moment before replying. "And that is what I suppose you wanted to do. Is it true that you want to mark me?" he asked Hiei quietly. Hiei nodded.

"Yes, it is something that I would love to do. I do want to think about you forever. Most humans don't like being held in such a bond, and Youko never did either. So I wouldn't be surprised if you said you wanted the relationship to follow human standards.

"Actually, I'd like to be bonded to you Hiei. There is nobody else that I want to be with, other than you, and I can't help but wish for you to mark me. I want to be more than just a human to you, Hiei. I want to be with you in a relationship you appreciate. I want it to be so that you and I will never part ways." He said softly, scooting a bit closer to him and resting his head on the Jaganshi's shoulder.

The thought actually made Hiei smile. The idea of having Kurama truly as his mate was a very appealing idea to him. He was very serious about it, but he was still unsure about whether Kurama wanted this or not.

Once Hiei had marked him, there would be absolutely no way out, and he wanted to make sure that there was no reluctance on Kurama's part. No matter how much he wanted Kurama as his mate, the fox would come before his desires. He wouldn't hold Kurama to something that made him feel uncomfortable.

He reached out an arm to draw Kurama closer to him. A hand ran up and down the redhead's neck smoothly. "Are you absolutely sure, fox. There isn't a way out if you decide that you can't take it. There have been some demons forced into a bond like that by people they don't even feel for, and they will never have a chance with anyone else because they carry that demon's mark."

It made Kurama wonder why Karasu hadn't marked him. He was a demon, after all. He couldn't see through the raven-haired man's sadistic ways to his motives, so he had no idea on the matter whatsoever.

"I'd love to be marked by you, Hiei. I could care less about being bound to you forever, because I long to be with you for all of eternity." He said, wrapping his arms around Hiei and offering up his neck. Hiei was still hesitant.

"You know that it will hurt a bit, right? I am going to be biting your neck, so I can't say that marking you could be completely painless." Kurama shrugged and moved so his neck was exposed directly under Hiei's mouth.

"What's a little pain? I don't care about it." He said. Hiei gently wrapped one arm around Kurama's waist and one arm around his shoulder's he then lowered his mouth and began licking his chosen spot tenderly, showering the flesh with well placed kisses. Kurama shivered against Hiei, his licks and kisses were both pleasuring and reassuring to him. He relaxed and allowed Hiei to hold him the way he thought it best to. He was guessing it would hurt less if he just relaxed.

Hiei had withdrawn from his licking and kissing for a moment, a sign to Kurama he was going to bite down. His mouth paused above his neck for a second before fangs met flesh. The fox felt Hiei's fangs pierce his skin. He clenched his teeth, but dealt with the sting as Hiei slowly sawed his fangs and allowed some of his youki to flow from his mouth to Kurama's bite mark. Minutes later, Hiei withdrew, and then lapped up the blood from the small wound gently, stroking Kurama's hair to calm the fox, who on the verge of hyperventilating. He gave the ecstatic boy a questioning look.

Kurama smiled for real, eyes sparkling. "Thank you so much Hiei, I really didn't believe you'd want to be with me forever." With that, he kissed him on the lips with such passion that he almost fainted from it. Hiei caressed the spot on Kurama's neck gently, overcome with joy.

They drew away, and Hiei gently cradled Kurama's face in his hands. The fox had his eyes closed in enjoyment, but was also on the verge of falling back asleep. Hiei let the redhead fall back onto the pillows and lay down next to the fox. Kurama smiled a bit and opened his eyes long enough to lick his cheek gently. No sooner than that, had he fallen asleep in his lover's arms.

As time wore on, weeks passed and winter came, Kurama and Hiei continued to train and life went on. And Kurama found himself almost forgetting Akushitsuko at times but he would have his moments when he needed comfort and support from his lover.

He couldn't help it, and no matter how much Hiei tried, he could tell that Kurama was worried about the day he would return. The anxiety was so clear on his face, and sadly, it wasn't something that he could kiss away like all the other things. He'd just have to see time may heal him, and the day Akushitsuko came back was the day both he and Kurama were ready.

They were sitting back-to-back one day on a window seat. Hiei was sipping his preferred drink; hot chocolate while Kurama took occasional sips of some herbal tea that he liked. It was not only an enjoyable beverage for him, but he found that he was better protected against winter illnesses like the flu and such if he drank it every day.

The herbs he added while he made it did wonders on the immune system. It may not have been the solid protection a stable immune system could have offered, but it was better than nothing. He was beginning not to look as thin, and Hiei was happy to note that Kurama was eating three well-proportioned meals a day like he should be.

The fox was on the slow way to recovery, mentally speaking. He no longer was scared of going out and being among regular people, although he would sometimes get a little scared if someone tired to talk to him alone or touch him. He didn't like being touched by anyone except Hiei. There had been a few attacks by demons, and Kurama still seemed especially scared of them. The fire demon supposed the fear would be there for the rest of Kurama's life, Karasu had broken him, and done many things Kurama couldn't forget.

Kurama stood up for a minute as he drained the last of the cup's contents. He turned to his mate and smiled. "I 'm going to the kitchen for a moment, Hiei. Is there anything I can do for you? I could take the cup to the sink for you. Or, perhaps you would like a refill?" Hiei smirked and stood up next to the fox, before replying.

"Hn, fox. You aren't my slave. I can very well take my own cup to the kitchen. Seeing as we've both finished, how about we walk together?" Kurama nodded and walked with Hiei to the small kitchen in silence. They both placed their cups in the sink and Hiei allowed Kurama to rinse his out. They walked back to their favorite place, the window seat and cuddled up against each other. Kurama occupied himself with watching the gently falling snow outside while Hiei stared off into thin air and thought.

"Winter's coming, it's a really nice scene, ne Hiei?" Kurama said in a soft voice. Hiei turned his gaze to look out the window and think for a minute before replying absentmindedly.

"Yeah, I suppose. I guess snow's better than all that rain this town seems to get up here." Kurama nodded and went back to staring out the window while stealing the occasional glance at his mate every minute or so. This did not go unnoticed by Hiei, who was watching the unsuspecting fox out of the corner of his eye.

When Kurama was simply staring at him, he chose the moment to startle the boy. "It isn't polite to stare, you know. And I thought you were the type of person to uphold those ningen manners that your mother taught you." Kurama jumped involuntarily at the voice and was unable to react before Hiei pounced. Kurama looked surprised. His back pressed hard against the window seat.

"What was that for? You didn't even give me a hint you were going to do that!" Hiei chuckled at this and kissed the tip of Kurama's nose lightly. He licked Kurama's cheek as they both lost their serious façade, the redhead sighed softly.

"Hn. It was your fault you didn't notice that I was watching you. Had you been more observant, you would have noticed that I had been watching you the entire time. Had you known that, you would have been able to avoid being pounced on." Kurama laughed a little, he was in a very bright mood today. So he was willing to joke around.

"Well _sorry_ Mr. I-have-the-third-eye-and-I-am-all-seeing." Hiei tapped Kurama's nose in a way that a parent may have done to their child.

"You should be," he said, drawing Kurama into another kiss and rubbing the mark on his neck. Kurama moaned into Hiei's mouth and he lied on his back fully, Hiei pressing him down with his light, yet paralyzing weight. They broke apart again and Hiei broke the moment by sitting up and pulling Kurama up with him. Although the fox had never really been too hungry for 'action' in that sense, he still couldn't help feeling a little disappointed.

"Well, Kurama, I know you're disappointed, but I don't believe we should do anything like that today. Besides, is a window seat really a proper place to do that?" he asked the fox, helping him to his feet before continuing what he wanted to say to Kurama.

"Besides, I was thinking that we could go to a movie or something today and skip our daily training. I was hoping we could lift that anxiety about the two villains. I want you to be able to forget about them for a while and just enjoy yourself." The thought hit Kurama again, like a pound of lead. Perhaps that hadn't been the very best thing to bring up after all. The redhead bit his lip and averted his gaze to hide the shameful fear. He was always afraid that Hiei might yell at him for fearing such a stupid thing.

Hiei rolled his eyes a bit. "Just forget about it, for once. I just want you to be able to do that, it will make me happier than anything else you could try and impress me with." Kurama nodded in an almost dejected way. He then offered up another suggestion.

"I could make lunch for us too. Would you like to go afterwards?" Hiei was just glad that Kurama's mind was going to be off his regular thoughts for each other. Hiei nodded and Kurama began to walk to the kitchen.

"What are you planning on making, fox?" the redhead turned to answer his question.

"I'm not planning anything too special. I still have those leftovers from that nice dinner we had a few nights ago, so I was thinking about reheating them. Why? Is there anything in particular that you'd prefer over this?" Hiei shook his head no and followed Kurama into the kitchen. Although he knew Kurama wouldn't want any help, nor need it, he desired to stay in the same room as Kurama whenever possible. Take it as a demon mate instinct, because often in such bonds, demons stayed with their mate almost every waking moment and often fell into depression when separated for even a short while.

He did a favor for Kurama and grabbed to plates and sets of silverware out of the cupboard and set them on the table. Kurama simply grabbed the warmed food out of the microwave and set them on the table.

They usually didn't eat normally as many couples may have. Neither person had much of a desire to converse at meal times, so they usually kept their gazes averted and thoughts to themselves while they ate quietly. The occasional talking would always be done at the end of the meal, when Hiei would spend a bit of time trying to convince the fox to eat a little more food. He'd always refuse that he was hungry at first, but with a bit of coaxing from his love, he always was persuaded to eat at least a forkful more.

Kurama had run to the sink to do the dishes, and Hiei stood by him as always, his trademark distant looking expression on his face that contrasted the protective glint that shone in his eye whenever he watched over his mate. The redhead looked at him with those unblinking emerald orbs as he scrubbed small bits of food off their plates with a sponge, hot water, and soap. He then began rubbing the carefully with a dishtowel to dry them after he had found them adequately clean enough. Hiei had always said people would think of him as a perfectionist scrubbing those plates endlessly so that every germ that could possibly be there had been scrubbed away. It made sense, seeing as the small cottage had no dishwasher to do it for him.

Hiei had to tug on Kurama's arm to get the boy's attention again. He had gone off into his own little world after he had set their dishes in the cupboard once again, and wouldn't respond to anything he said. Kurama looked down for a moment to collect his thoughts and then looked up at Hiei, understanding what he had wanted to tell him.

"The movies then, Hiei?" he asked in a monotonous voice. He still couldn't get his mind off his current thoughts. Hiei nodded and clasped the fox's hand with his, gently to reassure the boy. It wasn't anything of huge importance, but he could still tell that the redhead was troubled and unsure about what had been going on a few weeks past.

The couple walked together in the cheerful little town. Hiei had discovered over the past few weeks how thee town was. Although it could be considered a village, it was more of a town. A modern feel hung in the air without seeming scarily up-to-date. There was a friendly aura surrounding the town, and almost everybody knew each other.

The town seemed devoid in a way, yet it still had a small movie theatre. Hiei had decided about a week ago it would prove to be a nice distraction for Kurama, even if he had never favored going to such ningen places. If it was what he had to do to help Kurama out a bit, he cared nothing of going. It was just a stupid ningen place, after all. Plus Kurama wouldn't mind if he fell asleep in the middle of this movie anyways.

It was boring as soon as they had sat down. Since Hiei wanted Kurama off of bad things, they weren't going to see a horror, tragedy, or suspense movie. He was doing off after five minutes of listening to the childish plot. Kurama didn't seem very entertained by it either; his head was resting on Hiei's shoulder as he watched through a half-lidded gaze. Occasional, he would yawn, strengthening the will Hiei had to fall asleep on the spot. He leaned his head against Kurama's for just a moment in order to fight off the boredom and fatigue that threatened him.

_It was freeing outside. For once, they didn't have to be fighting up on that mountain for the scenery to be like a blizzard. Snow whipped every which was and as they fought, he could hear Kurama's half suppressed coughs and sneezes lost among the whipping wind. They continued to fight despite the foreboding conditions, Hiei was fighting Akushitsuko, and Kurama was fighting a shadow figure. _

_Blood was fresh upon the powder-white snow, and both boys stumbled, their wounds seeming to overpower them. His head spun crazily, and Hiei found himself doing something that he had never done in a single fight. He collapsed right onto his knees in front of his foe. Without showing mercy, Akushitsuko attacked. Hiei had squinted, expecting a considerably severe blow. Nothing came, there was no pain, nor did he feel as if he had any more wounds than what he had already obtained. He felt something wet and sticky hit his cheek, causing him to open his eyes. He saw Kurama standing in front of his, the blade of a scythe embedded within his left arm. Akushitsuko's claws had made three fine gashes across his cheek, so that must have been where the blood had come from. _

_A very pained look was evident upon his features. His eyes were squeezed shut tightly, and his teeth clenched as he forced himself to breathe evenly Blood ran from the corner of the fox's mouth and with that, he went into a coughing spasm and coughed blood up onto the once pure snow. A smirk larger than anything was visible upon the water dragon's features. With that, Hiei went to attack the demon, a wave of protectiveness enveloping him, the drive to protect his mate overpowering him. Yet still, he couldn't land any injuries, at least not in places that were vital. Not matter how hard he swung his sword, or how fast he pushed his pace, he never saw one look of pain on the demon's features. Not one. _

_The fox didn't hide behind him like Hiei had desired him to. Alongside him, Kurama ran at his pace, rosewhip in hand to aiding him whenever it looked like he could be injured potentially. Kurama was the one spilling the most blood out of the two of them, and it angered Hiei. He finally ordered the fox to stay back and shoved him roughly out of the way of a flying scythe. He fell and rolled across the ground from the force of the shove, leaving a trail of red liquid in his path._

_Kurama's eyes widened as Hiei was it in the back with Akushitsuko's onslaught, but his worry alone didn't linger without other emotions. As Hiei slid smoothly across the ground from the force of the last attack, he heard Kurama's scream pierce the air like a knife. He didn't even care when he felt a downward slash across his back and white-hot pain. He glared angrily to try and find the cause of Kurama's scream. _

_The dark figure hovered over Kurama's fallen form; a large pool of crimson blood had collected around the redhead. It soaked his already crimson tresses and made the dried blood against his face stand out. The dark figure place a foot on the redhead's back and even at this distance, he could hear Kurama groan at even the slightest pressure o his back. A twisted expression possessed the redheads face, and he had never seen a creature looking so distressed in his entire life. _

_He was running… running… running. His legs ached, but it was of no importance to him. He had to reach his mate's form, and no matter how hard he seemed to try, the distance between him and Kurama did not decrease drastically. The Jaganshi pushed himself harder than he ever had in his entire life, and his body felt like it was about to explode. _

_Suddenly, the fallen form appeared right in front of him, as if by magic. The two figures watched in the distance, not finding too much reason to do anything at the current time. He skidded to a halt so he wouldn't trip over Kurama, but found only a similar effect to happen. He tripped over a rock and went flying a few feet away, doing a face plant in untainted snow. He lifted his head and spat, blood coming from his mouth, where he had cut his tongue against his own sharp fangs. Dull pain echoed throughout his form, but he paid no attention. Weakly, he crawled over to Kurama, with shortened breath and a heaving chest. _

_He brushed away red strands of hair hiding Kurama's pale face, and his breathing hitched when he saw Kurama's expression. Deep fear and distrust was laced in his gaze, and it couldn't have been aimed at anyone other than himself. Kurama's scream echoed through the now silent air once again, and Hiei wondered who the hell had done it this time. Blood covered his hands and he was nearly overpowered by it's scent. He looked down at his mate, and to his horror, it was his own katana that was stuck right through Kurama's stomach, and it was his own hands that were clutching it._

_Blood began running faster out of Kurama's mouth as the shock faded from Hiei's system, given way to complete and utter horror. The only thing Hiei was able to see were those sad emeralds with the look of utmost terror and wretchedness inside. There was no happiness, no self-hatred, and not even anger, just that empty, shocked look. A spasm traveled through the fox's body as he vomited and then coughed up a large amount of blood. _

_His thoughts rushed through his head and it almost made him want to die at that exact moment. Kurama's soft alto bored itself into his mind. "H-hiei…. I thought that you… cared. W-why?" He coughed more blood to add onto the comment, and as luck would have it, he coughed it right onto Hiei's shirt. Guilt and self-hatred now racked at the Jaganshi's conscience. _

_Soft tears began to fall from Kurama's eyes as he lowered a hand to his stomach and pulled the blade out himself. A fresh wave of blood flowed, and Hiei pulled the fox into his arms, in a way so that the fox was resting in his lap. The redhead was much too weak and frail to protest. His head rested delicately against his collarbone, and even now, Hiei could feel the sticky crimson liquid seeping into his clothes. It wasn't like anything else Hiei had ever felt. His own body was a whirlwind of pain, yet he felt none, physically. He still was unable to answer the fox's question._

_So there he sat, his beautiful mate slowly dieing in his arms. There wasn't a thing he could do to stop it from happening, no was there any blame to place on anyone but himself. He pleaded with his mate to forgive him, and believe he had never meant to do such a horrible thing. There were no words to be spoken, so it was either that Kurama was physically unable to talk, or he was so ashamed for trusting him that he wouldn't allow himself to speak. The silence was worse than anything, had Kurama lashed out, cursed him a million times over, and given him a painful death by his whip, he would have felt nowhere near as horrible as this silence. Kurama's eyes stared into his in a disbelieving way. It made Hiei want to retch._

_More blood and vomit was added to Hiei's shirt as Kurama began to tremble from coughing and vomiting so many times. His throat must've been burning from the combination of raw stomach acid and blood. He closed his eyes and exhaled lightly against Hiei's chest. It felt so eerie to the fire demon, such a soft breath. He could smell the putrid scent that reeked of Kurama's dry breath. A once pure creature that had previously smelled of beautiful roses now smelled of blood, vomit, and dry tears. The air was so smothered with the scent that it was practically suffocating him. Hiei had never known the purest form of Kurama, because he hadn't known him all those years back. But he still asked himself, how could such a beautiful, happy person ever sink down to this level of misery?_

_He had simply fallen limp upon Hiei's chest. There was nothing else more complicated than that. How had Youko died like this? The once infamous and cold-hearted had fallen victim to his own partner, and had been unable to fight blood loss. This frail body had been nothing more than a way to buy time, hadn't it? It had been Youko's desperate attempt to save himself, and it had been worse than him actually dieing in the first place. Hiei stoked the hair of the lifeless creature, biting his lip and pleading with the heavens to give his one love back. The fox remained lifeless as ever, not a strand of his hair disturbed. _

_The pain of the loss began to tug at his heart in an extremely painful manner. He bit his lip very hard and held the limp form of a broken creature to his body, hoping that Kurama's eyes would open once more, and he'd see a happy smile again. He even raised his ki to the temperature Kurama liked while smothering the pale face in kisses. It was only yet another attempt to try and deny the fox was really dead. Denial is more painful than anything any being, demon, human, or hanyou can ever experience when fighting with your mind, which tells you the logical thing. Nothing is more painful than wishing something were not true, when you know it really is true, and you're just trying to save what can't be brought back. An almost seizure-like shudder passed through his body and he gasped out as an unbearable pain clenched at his heart. _

_He gasped out as the sudden pain overwhelmed him. It was unlike anything he'd felt before. He felt so helpless, and so scared about what was going to happen now. Without his mate to stay with, and to be able to show him that he was the braver one, he felt lost. How could his mate leave him like this? They had a bond! They were supposed to live many happy years together before they died. _

_He felt tears well up in his eyes. Fruitlessly, Hiei tried with al his might to force them back. He had never cried before, so why should he cry now? He bit his lip as he stared guiltily down at the deathly pale face tat was once the reincarnation of one of the most infamous demons ever to have lived. Why had he fought with Kurama all those years ago? He could barely remember. All his memories seemed to be just a simple blur to him. He desperately wanted to forget all about the fox demon he had called an enemy, then a friend, and finally, a mate. His relationship had changed for the better over the years, but it felt unbearable for him to deal with right now. _

_Finally, he felt the tears fall from his eyes. It wasn't hat he had finally given up on trying to hold them back, it wasn't that he had allowed these tars to fall… they just did. Hiei sniffed softly and hugged Kurama's body to himself tightly. "Kurama. Why did you have to leave me?" he whispered to nobody. More tears fell and a sob escaped his lips. He had loved Kurama so much, so why was it the fox who had to die? He begged desperately with the heavens for their places to be switched. _

_He heard footsteps approaching, and he stood up angrily, wiping the tears from his eyes. These people would pay. He had only finished that thought when he felt a searing pain in his chest. He collapsed to the ground to join Kurama. He looked up, seeing Akushitsuko hold the katana the fire demon had stabbed Kurama with. Blood flowed out of a chest wound and he could feel blood flowing from his mouth. How ironic, he was going to die from his own weapon. It was his last thought as he hugged Kurama's form against his, his world fading to black. _

He heard Kurama urgently whispering in his ear now. "Hiei… Hiei!" he groaned. His voice sounded so far off, so distant. His eyes flicked open sleepily. In the dark theatre he cold see a very worried looking boy. It took a minute for Hiei to realize where he was, and that this was actually reality. The pain of Kurama's 'death' in the dream was slow to fade. He hugged Kurama possessively to his chest, just to ensure he wasn't and illusion.

After a moment, he spoke to Kurama. "What was I doing Kurama? Nothing that got any attention, hopefully." Kurama shook his head as an answer.

"You were thrashing about, though. What was happening? Did you have nightmare or something?" Hiei still clung tightly to the fox so as not to let him slip away from him. He swore that he'd never let Kurama out of his sight again after this. His senses snapped back into place, and he smelled just a fain scent of the boy's blood.

"Kurama, why are you bleeding?" he asked, still keeping a tight hold on his beloved. He looked up to see Kurama smile faintly. He scowled at the lighthearted expression and ordered for him to answer the question. Kurama shook his head before answering.

"You just scratched me with you're claws while you were asleep. It isn't that deep, so it's no cause for concern. Hiei pulled the kitsune to his feet and led him out of the theatre by the wrist. He was busy scolding Kurama for not worrying enough about himself, and how it was foolish not to care if cuts like that may become infected. The fox could be really stupid sometimes, saying that these injuries weren't vital. He pulled Kurama into the house and wiped an herbal disinfectant that Kurama kept in his medicine cabinet and wrapping a bandage around the area. Kurama was very curious as to why Hiei had overacted so much.

"Ano… Hiei, why do you worry about this so intensely?" he asked in a tentative voice. Hiei grabbed the fox's shoulders and stared him directly in the eyes, boring his crimson orbs.

"It's a simple concept, fox. You should know very well even a cut this small can cause infection. Would you really want to take that risk? You of all people should know that it's important to take care of those types of things before they come back to haunt you."

Kurama sighed and swallowed Hiei's answer without reply. He motioned for Hiei to follow him, and they sat down on the window seat to look out at the snow. He still clasped Hiei's hands, enjoying the warmth that radiated from the pale flesh. It was snowing quite heavily now, and they seemed too caught up in watching it fall to talk. Kurama traced a finger down the glass to follow water from a snowflake that had fallen onto the window on the outside and melted to a tiny stream of cool water. He leaned his head against the cool windowpane and sighed as they watched the snowfall. He was comforted by warmth from body heat he felt nearby, and closed his eyes. This was better than any date that Hiei could ever take him on. Just being with his mate and being able to watch something in nature he enjoyed made him feel like the luckiest person in the universe, despite whatever happened to him.

He contemplated snow and winter. He had loved it since he was a small child, running and playing in the snow with his friends may years back.

Snow, however, also symbolized death. It was something most people either didn't acknowledge, or had no clue about such a thing. It came after fall, when all the trees died, as if demolished by the very thought of such a thing. Very few things thrived during the winter. In the department of plants, usually only evergreens were seen in the winter. But they supplied no food to the animals that didn't hibernate. The sharp and hard pine needles had no nutritional value, like those cold-blooded people who managed to escape death. Even animals that didn't hibernate in the winter could easily be killed off, famine was a dangerous thing during these cold months, and the only things sited for such a harsh environment were those pine trees, unable to sustain anything except themselves.

This could be drawn off of life. People were the snow, the evergreens, the animals that didn't hibernate, or the animals that did hibernate. If you were a cold-blooded person, you were the snow, like Karasu, Akushitsuko, and Shin. If you were a person who was cold to most things, and you were able to survive because of that, you'd be like Hiei. If you were trying to brave the threat of death, like the animal that didn't hibernate, you were like Hikaru. And now you came to Kurama. He was possibly the worst category of them all. If you tried to hide from death, and held a fear of something, Kurama was your person. He sighed. Maybe even if he didn't survive, he could at least say he tried. He'd go and face those two demons, no matter what the odds.

He had forgotten completely about the mate who had been sitting just a little ways away from him on the exact same seat. He jumped out of surprise he felt the source of warmth settle next to him, rubbing a warm cheek against his neck. Kurama and Hiei sat there for a long while, watching the peacefully falling snowflakes from their seat. He felt and arms wrap itself around his waist and pull him close. With a light sigh, Kurama closed his eyes and relaxed for the first time in forever. He allowed his mate to just hold hi there. His eyes were shut, and he enjoyed it as Hiei embraced him.

A tongue slipped out of Hiei's mouth to lick the fox's cheek lovingly. Kurama's calm appearance faltered for a slight moment, but automatically leaned closer and allowed Hiei to lick his cheek after a single moment o thought. He felt like crying again for some reason, he felt like something bad could happen at any minute, and he'd be alone, away from the person he loved most.

As if he had read Kurama's mind, he held the fox tighter, looking gently into his eyes. "Stupid fox…." He muttered absentmindedly, with no meaning as he traced the outlines of Kurama's face and ran fingers through his hair. Kurama relaxed against his body, once again while closing his eyes and exhaling contently. A sudden presence that both sensed snapped the out of the dream world they had both entered.

He had stood up really fast, and Kurama had leapt out of his lap before he fell to the ground with the force of Hiei getting up. They both immediately ran to get their shoes. Hiei looked at his fox and growled angrily. He wouldn't allow Kurama to come with him. He would no longer allow the potential for his mate to be lost yet again. Strangely enough, it seemed as if the dream had taught him a sort of lesson. There was no way in the seven hells that he could let Kurama accompany him.

The fox protested when he was shoved back roughly by the black-clad figure. He grabbed his shoes and slipped them on against the Jaganshi's will. An echoing silence passed before Hiei growled stubbornly and forced the fox to sit down, ordering him to remain in the house where he wouldn't be able to be harmed. With that, he protested in an angry soft alto.

"Hiei! I thought you wanted my help! Why can't I fight with you? Please just let me. Wards do not restrain me this time, and we've been training. I swear that I have enough confidence to stand up to them. I want so much to prove myself Hiei! Why won't you allow such a simple thing as that?" he said in an exasperated voice, plagued with his desperation. Hiei seized Kurama's face and looked straight into the fox's eyes, the utmost serious expression inside of his crimson orbs.

Their lips met in a searing kiss, and Kurama felt his knees give out. Luckily enough for the boy, he was still being held up be his strong demon mate. He rubbed his lips against Hiei's during the kiss, desperation growing with the longing to be of aid to Hiei in battle. They held very tightly to each other, Kurama's nails were dug into Hiei's back so deeply that blood trickled down Hiei's skin. The intensity of their kiss did not waiver until the broke apart, gasping for breath.

"I can't lose you Kurama! Please stay here. This fight is not worth sacrificing the life of a mate. I can't allow it and I won't allow it. I'd be lost without you. So why can't you see that fox?" Kurama's eyes sparkled sadly, and he hugged the demon's body even tighter than he had before.

"Please, then. I know that you don't want to lose me. But I don't want to lose you either. I love you so much Hiei, and if you allow me to fight by your side, not only do I swear that I will make sure I don't die, but I'll do anything for you. I'll be the best mate a demon could ever have. Please, please, please…" he said, begging for his wish to be grated. Hiei only looked amazed. He laid a hand on the fox's cheek and blinked. Never had he expected to hear something like that from Kurama. It almost made his heart want to sing.

An unknown force broke down the door and a splitting crack resounded throughout the room. Hiei drew his sword at the sight o the two demons standing at the entrance. Akushitsuko and another man stood at the door. He could see Kurama begin to tremble with one look at the two. Hiei wondered who could possibly be scaring him so much. He heard one word uttered by Kurama. The mystery of the figure and Kurama's fear shattered from the atmosphere.

"Karasu." He whispered. Hiei had only heard of the sinister figure before. This was the first time he had ever seen Karasu, so he hadn't known who that had been. Poor Kurama looked more scared than he had ever seen him look before. He understood now where the fear of people Kurama got came from and why it did. The figure was very intimidating in a way, mouth and nose covered with a silver mask so that you could only see narrow violet eyes.

"How have you been doing, my pretty one?" asked the masked figure standing behind Akushitsuko He heard him take a slight step towards Kurama. He saw the fox's eyes flick to his, pleading for something that Hiei couldn't make out. He'd have to help Kurama fight this time. It was not good to have to deal with fear during a fight. He stayed close to Kurama as he saw the raven-haired man making his way over to Kurama. It only heightened the redhead's fear, as Karasu stopped, right in front of him; he heard his mate's breath quicken considerable. He could almost hear the fast pounding of the human heart just listening as he stood next to him.

Karasu outstretched a hand to lift Kurama's chin. By now, the human was much too scared to be able to move. Hiei swore that if Karasu touched him any more than what he was already doing, he'd be a dead demon in the slightest second. Karasu saw the mark on his neck, and abruptly let go of his chin. He chuckled for a minute before making comment on this.

"So I see you've found yourself a mate. I thought you could do better than this, after all you could attract something much better than that forbidden scum" For once in his lie, Kurama was angered by what he had said. How dare he call Hiei 'Forbidden scum' as if he wasn't worth anything.

He drew out a rose, ready to fight After all this time of training for hours with Hiei, perfecting every technique, every move, and every attack, he felt ready to fight for once. No longer would he be a weak person depending upon someone's help for survival.

Karasu smirked. "It seems as if you've acquired some fighting skills over the time I have searched to find you. Although I could hardly say they would be enough. You are like a rose. Although you may have your thorns, you are only a fleeting thing, and you can easily be destroyed." Hiei growled and shifted into a defensive posture, sword glinting dangerously in the light. He wouldn't allow Karasu to do anything to Kurama while he was standing. If he wanted to get to his fox, he'd have to step over Hiei's dead, unmoving body to be able to do it.

They both attacked at the same time. Kurama conjured his whip and with a flick of his wrist, it lashed out at Karasu. He smirked and dodged it while at the same time, dodging Hiei's sword thrust. Akushitsuko stood a few feet away, looking purely amused at their futile attempts to successfully land serious damage upon Karasu. This had been a worthwhile partner to invest his time in. He hadn't been weak like Shin had been. Hiei leapt in the air, and did a sort of flip. Coming at Karasu with his sword pointed down, aimed right towards stabbing through Karasu's head. It usually would have been a very successful move, had it not been for the offensive move Karasu made at the last second.

Hiei felt something explode near his stomach; blood flew from a new wound. How had that happened? He certainly knew that Karasu hadn't done anything extraordinary. At least, he hadn't seen anything. Could it possibly be that Karasu was a Quest Class demon?

Kurama ran over to them, looking very concerned about his newly acquired wound. He furiously tries to attack again, lashing his rose whip out while running to Karasu's side. It had been a very effective move to use during their train. Karasu caught the whip with his bare hand and exploded the center of it, rendering the whip useless. There was an explosion next to Kurama's arm, and he fell to the ground, bleeding very badly.

To this point, Hiei was very worried about what would happen to Kurama if they dragged this on much longer. If this guy's desire to kill the fox were so great, than it would be most likely that he would die trying to achieve this goal. It wasn't good. Hiei had guessed that he was manifesting bombs that they wouldn't be able to see. That could particularly fatal if they didn't watch how they moved. Quest Class demons had always been very strong. With this, he stood up and ripped wards off his arms. It had never been that he had to turn to this to be able to defeat someone. Dangerous youki crackled in the air. He'd finish this before Kurama could be endangered any more.

He saw Karasu smirk. Hiei knew that he wouldn't comprehend this attack even if he had heard of it before. This was the strongest attack in his technique. It left only destruction in its path, and anyone within this path would be incinerated before they could even think about getting out of the way. He wouldn't be able to control it once it was released on its destruction streak. Kurama looked curiously at him. He had no idea what he was up to; he blinked at the serious look on the fire demons face. "Get behind me," he ordered. It was in an extremely serious tone. There was not even a protest on Kurama's part as he took a step so that he was standing behind his mate.

His arm simply smoked. The pure power of this attack reverberated against the walls of Kurama's house. He was suddenly overcome by worry about the manner. What would happen once this dragon destroyed the half of the house it was released upon. He knew that it would travel in a straight line, but what would happen to this house? Kurama needed somewhere to live, and it wouldn't help if he destroyed this home. However, it was a life or death matter that couldn't be ignored.

"Jao Ensatsu Koku Ryuu Ha!" A large, black dragon erupted from his arm. He didn't think Karasu would be able to avoid it, but you can't always assume that you'll be correct in your assumptions, right? So what if this assumption proved to be incorrect, would it be a fatal mistake. No, there was nobody in the three worlds that would be able to avoid his black dragon.

Luck must not have been on his side that day. It was a horrible twist of fate, but somehow, Karasu leapt to the side and avoided the massive dragon he had once been in the path from. This couldn't be good. Hiei had almost no energy left from this attack. He could already feel the effects of the energy drain on his body. He felt about ready to faint after this.

Akushitsuko, however, stood right in the path of destruction of this large dragon. He didn't seem to even make an effort to move. In fact, Hiei could have sworn that he saw the demon smile before the black flames engulfed him. Akushitsuko smirked to himself, how fitting, a pathetic death for someone pathetic as him. He had realized that he had loved Shin, just the moment before Hiei had shot the black dragon. This was a pathetic trait worthy of such a death. He smiled; he would now be reunited with Shin, so that they could face the fate they deserved together. At least he could never be truly alone again.

Karasu smirked and licked some of his own blood off his fingers. Hiei looked to be in shock. How could he have avoided that? It had been aimed right at him, he had been directly in it's path. So why was he still alive, not even sustaining wounds near to what you were suppose to get when you were in the path of such a menacing foe. He attempted to raise his sword again; he wavered a bit in holding it. Kurama was too astounded at what Hiei had just done, unable to move.

Suddenly, Kurama ran out in front of Hiei. He had to protect his mate as well. As a second tactic, he drew out a blade of grass. Although he wasn't experienced as he should have been, he'd protect Hiei at all costs, even if it meant sacrificing his life for him. He loved him much too deeply to allow Hiei to be killed without protecting him. After all, what would life be like without Hiei? He didn't even want to think about that. Karasu laughed smoothly and reached out to pat Kurama's cheek. He was pleased at the angered reaction when Kurama lashed out of him, giving him a nice, deep gash on his arm.

"I have to admit, Kurama. I am very impressed in how you have been able to strengthen like this in the time it took me to find you. Had I given you six more months, you may have been almost a match for me. However, that does not change what you are. You are weak, fragile, and it is easy to crush you."

Kurama lashed out again, doing a flip over Karasu's head and giving him a nice gash across the neck. It didn't seem to have any effect of the demon, though. He grabbed Kurama by the wrist and threw him against one of the remaining walls. Kurama groaned and fell unconscious. This seemed to anger Hiei greatly; he rushed at the unsuspecting Karasu with his sword tip pointed straight at his heart. He turned in time. Although he received a fair gash across his arm, he seemed unfazed. His sword shattered, most likely from an explosion from Karasu's bombs. He wouldn't give up without a fight.

He raised his fists and began attacking Karasu with punches and kicks. Although his youki was almost completely gone, and his sword had shattered, he still had a driving fire in his heart to kill the menace that had once threatened Kurama, so that it may never need to frighten him again. Kurama blinked softly as he came to reality with the world again. He felt almost unable to move. He winced at an attempt to stand up, pain shooting through his left leg with the slightest movement. He suspected it broken. It wasn't anything horrible, though. He had dealt with worse before, and he'd deal with this. Wincing he stood up and limped over to Karasu in a weak attempt to inflict more damage and aid his mate in this demon's demise.

Hiei ran and blocked an explosion. It would have been a fatal blow to the fox, but in the way Hiei ran, he only received a minor blow to his side. Kurama 's eyes widened in shock from his mate's actions, he knew Hiei was probably already weakened from all the youki he had lost. He pleaded for Hiei to stop blocking all the attacks and stop fighting. He didn't only worry for his lover, but he felt up to this point if he had to watch Hiei get hurt anymore he'd die of it. He had to protect Hiei at all costs, but he wouldn't be able to if he kept fighting.

His mate's only reply was "Do you think I'm so pathetic as to quit, fox? You may think that I'm not willing to take a few blows for you and deal with a bit of pain so that you won't have to feel them. Well, you're wrong about that. As long as I'm still standing, I'm going to fight alongside you and block any attacks if I can that come your way."

His eyes widened as Hiei blocked another explosion for him. It exploded right near his shoulder. What worried Kurama more than anything was how much blood was coming from the wound. He knew there was an artery near where this explosion had occurred, but he hadn't actually considered the chance that his artery might have been cut, or worse, exploded. Kurama screamed his name as he fell down to the ground, vision blurring slightly.

The redhead ran up to his fallen mate. Tears bit dangerously at the edges of his eyes as he bent don and turned Hiei over to look into his glazed eyes. Hiei chuckled softly reaching a shaking hand and placing it on the fox's pale cheek. Worry was laced across his beautiful features; he reached a hand down to the wound near Hiei's shoulder and grabbed a towel that had been scattered nearby. He applied a hard pressure against the wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding. Blood soaked through the towel and stained it red within seconds. Kurama's eyes widened as he pressed harder, a horribly desperate attempt to try and stop Hiei from bleeding to death. Karasu stood respectfully off to the side. If Kurama loved his mate this much, he'd allow the time before Hiei died to be as private as possible, no matter how much Karasu thought Hiei was scum, he knew how some demons could be around their dieing mates.

Hiei smiled half-heartedly at his attempts. Blood was already soaked completely into this towel. Kurama threw it off to the side and picked another one up, bringing it up to Hiei's wound and applied the hardest pressure he could without injuring the fire demon further. Hiei held Kurama's free hand gently as he stared softly up into Kurama's desperate, teary eyes. He knew of the inevitable already. He really didn't care, though. He was going to die for a good cause, protecting the one he had loved most. Kurama gave up when the second towel was pretty much soaked in blood. His sad eyes questioned with Hiei, the one question within them, evident to even the light-headed Hiei. They asked: Why did you do this for me? Hiei slid a hand weakly to his cheek.

"Kurama, I need you to promise me something." He said out of nowhere. The redhead was so startled by his weak and faltering voiced. It was such a soft voice, it almost seemed like the times Hiei would whisper softly to him those loving words he enjoyed most. This time, though, was not enjoyable or romantic by any means. The softness, accompanied by weakness made Kurama want to just die inside. Kurama brought a hand up to Hiei's, the one that rested on his own cheek. He rested his hand against the pale, sweaty one. He held back his tears for once. He'd be strong for Hiei now. If he cried, it would just be proving his own weakness.

"Kurama, I need you to please live for my sake. I don't want you to commit suicide. I know that the pull may seem strong after I die, but you mustn't. I swear, these feelings are very much like a demon relationship, and it will be very hard thing to get over this like humans can. There is something that I never told you about us. Youko and I figuratively speaking, to be truthful, we were horrible enemies. I was mad at you. Remember when I told you about my past, and I wouldn't allow you to know the name of the person who had killed my family? Well, I probably should tell you. It is your past, after all. You were the one who killed them."

Kurama didn't look like he was able to believe it. His eyes blinked innocently, his mouth opened with a long pause before he spoke; it took a long time for him to be able to process words. "Hiei, how could I have been so cruel? Even more than that, how did you ever fall in love with me, knowing this?" Hiei chuckled and closed his eyes. It could only be a few more minutes. He could feel himself growing more lightheaded by the second.

"I don't care about that, idiot. I love you for you. I don't love you simply because of Youko; I just love your innocence and kindness. Why am I to hold a grudge for something you can't even remember?" Kurama looked really ashamed. Hiei had a justified reason to hate him, yet he didn't? Why was that?

The Jaganshi's voice had grown weaker now, yet he spoke up again, ignoring the shortness of breath, fatigue, and lightheadedness. His hand quivered a bit against Kurama's cheek, but did not fall because Kurama held it there. "Please, just promise me that, Kurama. I love you too much to think that you'll kill yourself over such a simple thing as my death." Kurama felt tears gathering in his eyes, and protests pushing to escape his mouth. He however held both back. If Hiei was really dieing, he needed to be able to grow up and just promise him this one thing.

"Yes, Hiei, I promise you. I love you too." He said, a solitary tear falling from his left eye. Hiei gave a very soft chuckle that sounded more like someone exhaling. In a very weak voice, he said

"Thank you, Kurama. You're so strong, you make me proud." Tears collected at the corners of his eyes, and he smiled a little. He had waited for a long time to hear Hiei say that. He hugged the fading warmth to his chest sadly as he felt Hiei's hand slip from his cheek. He held him until long after he wasn't able to hear Hiei's breathing again. He looked disbelieving for a moment before he broke down in tears, questioning why for what seemed like hours. He felt Karasu put a hand on his shoulder.

"Come with me, fox. I'm not going to kill you since your mate doesn't want your death, but I want you to come with me." Kurama was about to stab Karasu through the heart with his grass blade before a voice broke through his anger and sadness.

"Spirit Realm, Special Defense Squad. You're under arrest, Karasu" With that, the raven-haired man smirked. For once, he didn't try to run. He had been wanted for many years, on the run from them on charges for imprisoning people and killing quite a few important figures in the Rekai. He had also been charged with Kurama's entire village's death, around 300 people killed in one night by his command, not to mention, they were all humans, two of them being Rekai Tantei. They listed off the charges. Kurama's eyes widened at the last thing the said.

"Murder of Spirit World's detectives, Urameshi Yuusuke and Kuwabara Kazuma." He interrupted them, wiping the tears out of his field of view.

"They were Spirit Detectives?" he asked quietly. He had learned a long time ago what a Spirit Detective was from Koenma. Perhaps they had known he was a fox demon, and that's why they had always called him 'Fox boy'. A kinder member walked over to Kurama and put a hand on his shoulder in a friendly way.

"Yes, and they were some of the best around. They were great people. Kurama looked down and hugged Hiei's limp body to his, beginning to cry again.

"You know, we've got you a new house. It's across town. You know that nice log cabin, right? It's all yours. You'll find some food for yourself there. How about you head over there now?" Kurama shook his head for a moment.

"No, I want to spend a bit more time with Hiei. He needs to have a proper burial. But I promise you that I'll go later." The squad member nodded and walked over to the others in his group. They all put their hands up, and in a flash of light, they were gone. Kurama was left to cry into Hiei's hair softly, carrying him near the forest and digging a grave before laying him to rest. Tears fell down his face as he kissed the lifeless lips for the last time.

As he walked to his new home, he collapsed on a small couch, hugging Hiei's sword and white scarf to his body. He could still smell his mate's scent on it, but it didn't hold the warmth that he was used to. It was without comfort or life. He cried softly into a pillow. Maybe it would be good if he got some food into his stomach.

He ate something that wouldn't need any preparation. And although he ate a lot for Hiei's sake, he felt no hunger at all. As soon as he had finished the meal, he ran right into the bathroom, feeling sick to his stomach and threw the entire thing up into the toilet. He had tried to keep it down, yet his system seemed to automatically reject it.

He gagged as he finished, and gulped down some water to soothe his burning throat. He sighed and walked lifelessly to the bedroom, with a bed and sheets already made for him. He crawled under them without much care; he didn't even remove his clothes before he did so. He just buried his head under the blankets and sobbed until he fell asleep, only to be plagued with bloody nightmares of Hiei leaving him and replays in his mind of Hiei's death and what that night had led up until he had actually fallen. Tears fell from his eyes even in sleep, and no comfort was brought.

It didn't improve as two monotonous weeks passed, seconds ticking away as if they hadn't been seconds at all, but rather, hours at a time. He'd eat every day, but he rarely kept much down. No matter what herbal conceptions that were supposed to help settle his stomach, or even the light chicken broth he tried to eat was usually thrown up within a few minutes of swallowing. He only ate for Hiei's sake, trying to push himself along just to keep the promise he had made to his beloved. Suicide, however, was looking more appealing with each passing day. He relished the glints of blade, imagining how smoothly they could stab through his own heart, or how easily they could inflict mortal wounds on his wrists.

He cried softly as he went to grab himself some breakfast. A banana wouldn't even be kept down in his stomach, so why did he bother? His throat burned from all the times he had thrown up his meals, and vomit was now an ever-present taste on his tongue. He couldn't think straight anymore, so without much interest, he threw the fruit in the trash.

These two weeks had taken their toll on him. His eyes were bloodshot from crying so much, and dark circles had formed beneath the emerald orbs. His eyes were if he was sick, dull and lifeless. The beautiful crimson tresses he had once cared to keep neat were known unkempt and tangled. He wanted to walk to Hiei's grave again, he'd go there every day to pray, and spend a little time with his deceased mate. So, grabbing Hiei's sword and slipping on his shoes, he headed out the door, blasted by a gust of cold winter wind. It was freezing out there, and he didn't have a jacket, but he could care less. It took him forever to reach Hiei's grave. When he did, he sat on his knees and prayed for Hiei's safety as usual. He then drew a single rose out and set it gently on Hiei's grave as an offering to him.

Tears fell simultaneously from his face again as he lay down next to the grave in the snow. He cared nothing of the dangerous cold biting at him; he hugged the last remainders of Hiei to him, the sword and scarf and sobbed softly again. How could this happen?

He sighed and fingered the shiny blade he held in the shiny blade; it could so easily draw blood. The idea was almost too appealing to him to resist. No! He had promised that he wouldn't do this, he mustn't! But… Hiei had left him so alone. How was he expecting him to live his life alone until he died of natural causes?

He was sorry that he couldn't keep his promise to Hiei. He was also sorry he couldn't protect the town like he had promised Koenma. He could probably find a replacement for him, anyways. This couldn't be avoided, because he couldn't live without Hiei.

_I'm sorry, Hiei. I know that I promised you, but I can't help it. I'm so alone…………._

_I can't live without you. Please understand, Hiei. _And with that, he drew the blade up and slashed across both wrists, deep enough so that his arteries would be cut, deep enough to kill him. A lone tear fell as he collapsed to the ground, blood staining the snow around him, like the idea of suicide stained people's minds. He smiled as he felt his heart slowing after a long time of bleeding. He could no longer sense his surroundings, he just felt like he was slowly falling asleep.

---

Somehow, Akushitsuko and Shin had gotten their way. The great Youko Kurama was finally dead. Yet there was nothing glorious or profitable about it. They had both died horrible deaths by the hands of the ones the so desperately tried to kill. They had died when they could have just left them alone, and lived happy lives that would have been more profitable than this. Yet they had been greedy, and taken the harder way.

As for Karasu… He had allowed his sadism to take over, and for that, he'd now be in a prison for the rest of his days, rotting away uselessly.

It all comes down to it, in life; true happiness is not profit, amount of friends, or even quality of family. It's having someone who truly cares, like Hiei. Someone who would overcome a grudge held for years, just to be with you, no matter how much of a right they had to hate you. It is something Hiei had learned before he died. A valuable lesson that anybody could learn however, killed him. And in desperation, his mate had taken his own life.

It goes to show you the effects of fighting and hate, even years after they do leave, the cost of death can result in. And that in itself, is sad enough.

Me: Well, it's done so I shall finish my ramblings for now. Huge thanks to four people, some people who really helped this story along.

**Suzuna-** Gave me ideas! Yay! You rock so much!

**Evene- **I love you too! You wrote well-rounded reviews that helped me along throughout the story. Plus, you've reviewed a very long time!

**Nyte Kit- **Even if it was for one chapter, I'm still so glad that you could lend me your time and be kind enough to be my beta!

**Lol - **And thanks to you, I got my motivation. I got reviews from you since the beginning, so I appreciate it. Thanks!

Well, are you happy that I killed them all? I suppose not. It was a kind of stinky ending, but I actually satisfied. Leave a review and tell me you thoughts!


End file.
